The Last Doctor: The Legend of the Maze Master
by Aline Riva
Summary: A Doctor Who/Crystal Maze crossover. When Ace asks the Doctor about how he will spend his final life, he takes her to a dreaming Tardis that has recreated itself as a fabulous Maze. But when Ace meets the last Doctor, who now calls himself Ed, she finds there are many secrets - and will make a shocking discovery hidden at the heart of the Tardis, now known as the Crystal Dome...
1. Chapter 1

**The Last Doctor : The Legend of the Maze Master Book 1:**

**Author Note:**

**This is Book 1 of a Doctor Who/Crystal Maze Crossover Series.**

**I always said "I will never write a crossover, I don't DO crossovers." Well, now I have and its probably the ****_only_**** crossover series I will ever write, and I'm really pleased with the result! **

**It came about through a conversation with my sister about how we both thought The Crystal Maze could be like the many hidden rooms inside the Tardis and how mysterious Ed Tudor Pole was, like a time traveller guiding people on a journey through time and space, like a Time Lord...**

**And then I came up with THIS, basically, a dark story which would have fitted perfectly into the Seventh Doctors era, and tells the tale of how the last regeneration of the Doctor becomes a time travelling maze master named Ed. **

**And... this story and the story/stories that follow on should be considered AU, of course!**

**Book 2 following on from this story is called The Last Doctor: Legend of the Maze Master Book 2 : Past Lives**

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**Dedication:**

**Enjoy, Sis - you gave me the inspiration to write this one. Enjoy the read very much – I definitely enjoyed writing it!**

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**Summary:**

**When Ace begins to ask too many questions about regeneration and the future and demands to know what will happen to the Doctor when his regenerations eventually end, the Seventh Doctor is evasive as usual, telling Ace that his final life time is many years away and he does not want to discuss the matter. **

**But Ace will not give up, and so the Doctor takes her on a trip through time and space to meet the last Doctor, materialising the Tardis on what appears to be an old abandoned space station that bears visible scars from some kind of battle fought long ago.**

**Ace is confused when he tells her he will leave her there and come back in a few days – and by then, she will have all the answers she is searching for...**

**Left in the space station, Ace wanders around, noticing the place is in need of repair and the systems are more than a century out of date – and then she meets the final regeneration of the Doctor, who now calls himself Ed because he has long since tired of using the Earth name John Smith.**

**As Ed shows Ace the secrets that lie inside the space station, helped along by his talking computer named Barbara, she finds the journey fun at first, as he takes her from one zone to another, from space to a medieval castle and then on to a sunken ship – it is then he explains the space station IS the Tardis, which after suffering major damage in a battle to save the earth from alien forces a hundred years before, has turned itself into a place to dream, filling rooms with memories of places the Tardis has visited over the centuries. **

**Ace begins to fall for the handsome man who lives alone in his dreaming Tardis, but starts to suspect something is very wrong, although Ed, the last very incarnation of the Doctor, tells her she is mistaken.**

**Then she decides to investigate, and the secret she will discover in the forbidden room known as the Crystal Dome will both shock her, and shatter her trust in the Doctor forever – can she ever forgive the Professor for hiding the truth, and when it comes to choosing between friendship and love, will Ace listen to her heart and sacrifice everything?**

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**Rated T**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing this is a work of fan fiction.**

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Chapter 1

_Ace was dreaming._

She knew she was asleep on cool grass beside a river as the heat of the day shone down on her, heat spiralling into her sun kissed shoulders and warming her legs as the short fabric of her summer skirt slid up to her thighs as she turned on her side away from the glare of the sun that made the word seem bright orange behind closed eyelids.

She could hear the birds singing in the trees and hear the sound of the water as it ran by gently, and she was floating just above it all, and thankful that the Doctor had decided to take the Tardis back to Earth, in summer, to a quiet place in the country side where she could rest and relax and sleep and stop thinking about the dark things that hid out there in other dimensions.

Here her nitro nine was not needed, it was a holiday for her baseball bat too.

No monsters, no battles, just rest.

And as she stopped floating and slipped over into dreaming time she gave a sigh, letting the world around her fade out.

Then everything faded out, plunging her into shadow.

_A man held out his hand and a snowflake landed on his palm. It stayed there, perfect and frozen, intricate and beautiful._

_Then he stepped closer and she saw dark hair that fell just above ice blue eyes and as the snowflake refused to melt he spoke to her in voice like silk:_

"_Every single one is unique, just like dreams. I dream all the time. Do you dream, Ace McShane?"_

And she woke up sharply, sitting up and blinking as the sunlight hit her eyes and she wondered why she had been so surprised that a stranger ought to know her name in a dream...

The Doctor had just stepped out of the Tardis and he was carrying a tray with iced lemonade and two glasses.

He looked at her with interest as she approached her.

"Bad dream?"

Then he sat down and put the tray on the grass and poured the lemonade.

Ace was watching the sunlight dance on the moving water as the river flowed by.

"Not exactly... I had a dream about dreaming, that's all."

The Doctor laughed and bubbles fizzed as if fighting for release as he passed her a tall glass of iced lemonade.

"Thanks," she said, and she sipped it and the coolness of the ice woke her up properly, sharpening her thoughts.

"It definitely wasn't a bad dream."

"No? What kind of a dream was it, then?"

She glanced at the Doctor and saw he was curious, and then she laughed softly.

"Oh, I don't know, Professor – there was this man...bright blue eyes, silky voice...he could catch snowflakes and they didn't melt. He asked me if I dreamed, he said he did all the time."

And the Doctor looked towards the flowing water as he sipped his lemonade.

"Interesting..." he murmured.

And Ace giggled.

"I didn't mean..."

he turned his head.

"What?"

"I didn't mean I fancied him, I didn't get much of a look at him, I just -"

"Saw his eyes and heard his voice as he spoke to you of dreaming. Sounds romantic..."

Ace swallowed more lemonade and put the glass down and she giggled again.

"Oi stop that, Professor – I'm a down to earth sort of girl, I don't have daydreams about -"

"Princes in castles?" he asked her, "No, I don't think you dream of being rescued by a handsome prince. A girl who takes a baseball bat to a Dalek doesn't have those kind of aspirations. You don't need to be rescued."

And he looked into her eyes.

"I would imagine you would dream of saving the prince, perhaps waking him with a kiss..."

And all trace of amusement faded from her eyes.

"That's not funny!"

The Doctor frowned.

"What have I said to upset you?"

She shook her head.

"Nothing..."

And she looked towards the river as sunlight danced on its surface.

"It's just that I had a dream a bit like that a few nights ago – but it wasn't exactly romantic!"

"Want to tell me about it?"

She fell silent for a moment, and then she gave a sigh. She knew the Professor well enough to understand he would not drop this subject now, because he was curious...

"It was just a dream..."

"Sounds like more than _just _a dream, Ace."

"It was like a twisted fairytale. There was this prince – I think he was a prince... and he needed me to set him free."

"Free from what?" the Doctor asked thoughtfully.

Ace watched as the water reflected sun as she cast her mind back to a dream that lingered as a faded memory.

"I'm not sure. I went up to him and he was sleeping on this bed, and I leaned over to wake him with a kiss..."

She fell silent.

The Doctor was still looking at her with interest.

"And than what happened? Or is that between you and your fantasy man?"

She looked at him and he winked as amusement sparkled in his eyes.

"No, it wasn't like that! I can't remember what happened next, okay? I just know I woke up really sharply."

"Maybe its a message from your subconscious mind," the Doctor told her, "Perhaps you're about to wake up feelings in someone you care about."

She looked puzzled.

"I can't think who that could be," she said, and then she got up.

"We're out of lemonade. I'm going to get some more."

And the Doctor watched as she walked across the grass back towards the Tardis, the hem of her short skirt dancing in the breeze as it skimmed her shapely thighs.

He gave a sigh and thought of the years he had spent travelling with Ace, who was now a young woman in her mid twenties.

"No," he said quietly, "I don't suppose it could be _me_ you're dreaming about..."

* * *

Ace returned with more lemonade and ice and then she sat down next to the Doctor once more.

"Sorry, about not wanting to talk about it," Ace said to him, "But it's a bit -"

"Private?" the Doctor suggested.

"No, just...I dunno, strange. And there was this music... it was playing so softly but it was all around me...it was so gentle and...it reminded me of something, but I can't think what it was."

"Sometimes dreams are just dreams and nothing more," the Doctor told her, "but sometimes, they can also be intense. Just don't let your imagination scare you. I've had terrible dreams, usually about the past, about battles I've fought...at least you only have to worry about your prince who waits to be kissed."

Ace looked back at the water.

"You must have had a lot of nightmares," she said, "I mean, you're hundreds of years old...you've been through so much. And all the different regenerations you've had...so much life for one man to live. Does it hurt?"

"Does what hurt?"

"Regeneration."

The Doctor gave a sigh. Since he had taken some time to explain to Ace what it meant to be a Time Lord and be capable of regeneration, she had not stopped asking difficult questions requiring answers that he preferred not to think about.

"Yes it does hurt, very much."

"And how many lives do you have?"

"I started out with twelve but I know for a fact the Time Lords will one day grant me a new cycle of lives – another twelve. So that's a lot of regenerations."

"And what about when you're down to the last one, your last life with no hope of regenerating?"

"Well, Ace – that's a difficult question. My final life will be much like all my others, I'll still have two hearts, still be a Time Lord – I could live for a thousand years or more barring accidents or injury. But eventually, when the end came, it would be the end. No more regenerations, just death."

She fell silent for a moment as she looked across the water and listened to the birds in the trees and felt the sun making spirals of heat on her skin. On a day filled with such beauty and warmth and light and life the word _death_ seemed to have no place.

"I know you know a lot about the future – but how far ahead have you looked?"

He met her gaze and as he looked her wished she would stop asking these questions, because they were becoming more and more complex to answer truthfully...

"Why?" he asked her.

"Because I was wondering if you knew anything about your final life?"

He leaned back against the trunk of a tree and gave a heavy sigh.

"I know a little. I heard the tale from another Doctor that heard about the day of the great battle."

Ace shifted closer to him and looked at him intently.

"What battle?"

"Two hostile alien species decided to fight it out over who claimed Earth – either side would have wiped out the human race. And so he intervened. He took a chance, because he had no regenerations left, but he took them on and he won, he saved the Earth for the final time. It was a terrible battle with many casualties, but he saved this planet, Ace. And then he went off into deep space to live quietly. And as far as I know, that's what he's still doing to this very day."

And as he saw her eyes sparkle with excitement, his hearts grew heavy.

"And he's best left alone," he added, "He's in his final life and he just wants to rest now."

"Professor, what's he like?"

The Doctor gave another sigh.

"Does it matter?"

"It does to me! He saved the Earth, he was brave to do that with no lives left! Please tell me what he's like, Professor!"

"Tall, dark hair, blue eyes, rather dashing...Ace, _stop_ it!"

"Stop what?"

"The more I tell you about him, the more your eyes start lighting up! Why are we even having this conversation?"

Ace looked disappointed now.

"Because he sounds exciting. And I'd like to meet him. Can I meet him, Professor?"

"No, it's not a good idea."

Now she looked as if she was about to slip into a major sulk.

"But why not? You said you know where he is..."

"I know where and when he is in time and space, yes that's true but...I just don't think it would be a good idea. He may not welcome visitors."

"Why not?"

The Doctor's eyes darkened.

"He's in his final lifetime, he's chosen to live alone in deep space and to me that says he's best left alone! You're too inquisitive, Ace. I'm sure the last thing he would want to do is talk about the past. You'd ask too many questions, want to know too much..."

"No I wouldn't. I just want to meet him."

She looked at him pleadingly.

"Please, Professor! I really need to do this."

"_Why?"_

His question confused her.

"I don't know," she said honestly, "I just know I need to meet him."

The Doctor looked at her thoughtfully, and then the expression in his eyes softened as he thought how Ace had the ability to wrap him around her little finger, even though she didn't know it – mainly because she was wrapped firmly around his hearts – and that was something else she didn't know...

"All right, Ace. If you want to meet him I'll take you to him. I'll let you stay for a few days and then I'll come back for you. I'm sure by then your curiosity will be satisfied. And remember, he was once me - so he will know you any way. I'm sure he will be glad to see you again."

Ace frowned.

"But I thought you said he might not want to see anyone?"

"I was trying to put you off the idea."

"Why?"

He got up and brushed grass from his clothing.

"Oh, I don't know...it's a long trip, he's been on his own a long time, he might not want you asking a lot of questions about the past..."

Ace got up too and the sparkle was back in her eyes.

"I won't ask too many questions, Professor!"

"And don't call him Professor. Don't ask about the past, and definitely don't ask him too much about his life as it is today. When you've lived as many lifetimes as he has, memories can be painful to recall."

Ace nodded.

"Of course, I won't forget that...I just want to meet him, Professor. I won't say anything to make him upset!"

"I'm sure you won't," he replied, and then they walked back to the Tardis together, while Ace continued to ask questions about the last Doctor.

* * *

After the Tardis had taken off and left Earth and the wide viewing port showed nothing but the blackness of star-scattered space, Ace stood in the console room as the ship gave off a quiet hum, and she felt comfortably cool even though her skin still glowed from the heat of the sun that had spiraled warmth into her skin back on Earth. She felt as if she had brought some of her home planet with her, but space had never looked so beautiful as she wondered how long their journey would take.

"So tell me some more about him," she said.

And the Doctor looked up from the console.

"I don't know what else there is to tell, Ace. He's me, in another life – his final one. The Doctor has many faces but he's still the same man underneath the change of appearance."

Ace was thinking.

"You said don't call him Professor. So he wouldn't like me to remind him of what I used to call him when he was you?"

"I would imagine he would find that rather confusing. My personality has changed as dramatically as my appearance with every regeneration. He's gone through many, many lifetimes since he was me. I do know he doesn't even use his old Earth name any more. He used to call himself Doctor John Smith. Now he simply prefers to be known as Ed."

"Does he still call himself the Doctor?"

"I don't know," he replied, "Probably not."

And as he turned back to the controls Ace fixed her gaze on the view of space as they travelled through its darkness.

"It looks so beautiful out there today," she said.

"Space is always beautiful," the Doctor replied, "Haven't you noticed that...Ace?"

And he looked at her intently as she continued to look out at the darkness, as if seeing it for the first time.

"Are you all right?" he asked her.

She was still looking at dark space filled with glittering stars.

"I never realised it before," she murmured, "It's so peaceful. I feel as if I could rest in its darkness, like its made of velvet...as if I could lie back and close my eyes and float amongst the stars..."

And she turned back to him with a look of wonder in her eyes.

"Its so restful! I never saw it before, how could I not have seen it, Professor?"

He looked at her intently, wondering what had made her suddenly aware of the peace and stillness of space.

"I'm surprised you noticed it just now," he said, "It's most unlike you."

Ace took a look back at the darkness and smiled.

"I've never noticed how they shimmer before now," she said softly, "Like diamonds...or tiny crystals, set in the soft darkness... it makes me feel so relaxed I could fall asleep."

The Doctor frowned.

"Are you sure you didn't get too much sun when we were on Earth?"

Ace turned away from the viewing port and smiled.

"No Professor, I'm just thinking about how beautiful it is out there."

The Doctor looked down at the controls and then back at Ace.

"Strange how you noticed it just after we crossed time zones. We are far into the future now. We're almost there."

"Almost where?"

"At the space station. He lives on a small space station locked in permanent orbit out in a distant part of the galaxy."

"What happened to the Tardis?"

"I don't know," the Doctor replied, "I heard he lives in a space station. He's the only person there."

Sadness shaded her eyes.

"He's all alone, all the time?"

"He's the Doctor," he reminded her, "He's seen so many lifetimes, maybe now he's reached his final life he wants the peace and quiet. He'll certainly get it out here."

And then as an object came into view, Ace stared at the screen:

The closer they got, the clearer she saw it:

An old space station, dented and battered, it looked as if it had either been under attack or caught in a meteor storm.

"He lives there? The place looks like -"

"It's been in a battle?" the Doctor suggested, "Well, its abandoned now. He's the only one there, but I'm guessing its still basically functional or he wouldn't be on board."

Ace drew in a slow breath as her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Are we just going to board it, or should we open a channel and let him know we're coming?"

"I'll try the communications channel," the Doctor said, and Ace wondered why she felt strangely apprehensive as she waited for the screen to clear and catch a first glimpse of the man who was the last Doctor.

The communications channel was filled with static, and the screen continued to refuse to clear.

"It's his equipment," the Doctor said, "By my calculations, this space station hasn't been upgraded for more than a century..."

And then the hissing stopped and a voice came through clearly:

"Hello Doctor! I'm assuming you're one of me... I see a Tardis on my viewer! A police box!"

And Ace gave a gasp as her eyes widened in surprise.

"I know that voice!" she said, "I think he was in my -"

"_Dream?"_ the Doctor said quietly.

"How did you know that?" she asked him.

But then he came through loud and clear once more:

"Sorry you can't see me – trouble with the comm system at my end. So which one of _me_ are you?"

"Your Seventh regeneration," he said.

There was a pause.

"Seventh? That was many lifetimes ago..."

And for a moment there was another silence.

"Doctor?" he said, "Are you still there?"

Ace listened, waiting to hear his voice again. It had come as a shock to think she had seen him in her dreams – the voice was identical...

"Yes, I'm still here...and Doctor, please don't call me that, or John Smith. These days I go by the name of Ed."

"Then I shall call you Ed," the Doctor replied, "Listen, I have a friend with me who wants to meet you. I'll need to bring the Tardis over...I was hoping my friend could stay for a few days. She really wants to meet you, she was fascinated to think there was a last version of me out there somewhere."

"Well I'm definitely the last doctor," he replied, "I have no regenerations left. Who is your friend?"

"Ace," the Doctor replied.

"Ace McShane?" he exclaimed, "At last! I've been waiting for centuries to see her again! Bring her over!"

"See you soon," the Doctor replied, and closed the channel.

"I can't wait to meet him!" Ace said keenly.

"And it seems he can't wait to see _you_ again..."

The Doctor had sounded deep in thought, and Ace had noticed.

"What's wrong, Professor?"

"I'm not sure," he replied, "He said he was looking forward to seeing you _again_... he must be referring to when he knew you in _my _regeneration..."

"And?" she said, waiting for more.

"Nothing," the Doctor said quietly as he turned back to the console. As he set the controls for landing, he kept his thoughts silent – that it seemed as if the last Doctor had been waiting for this moment, and there could only be two reasons – either because he was looking forward to a reunion with Ace, or because Ace would not be returning from the space station...

_Ed was the last Doctor, the one who had lived all lives and knew all things._

_He knew when Ace would finally leave his Seventh self's life forever._

_Perhaps it was sooner than he had imagined..._

_The Doctor had always loved her._

_He had loved Ace since their meeting on Ice World and he had kept that love locked deeply in his heart._

_As they years had passed he had planned to tell her how he felt – one day._

_But that day had not yet arrived and perhaps never would._

_Perhaps it was her destiny to fall in love with the Doctor in his final life instead of his Seventh..._

_Suddenly there was so much he wanted to say to Ace, about so many things – and there was no time._

"Professor, are you okay?"

He looked up from the console.

"Yes, I was just thinking..."

"About what?"And he looked at Ace, standing there in a pale blue top that showed off her sun kissed shoulders and a skirt that hugged her waist and made the most of her shapely legs. Her long hair was tied back in a pony tail and she still looked like the girl he had met so long ago – but she was older now, she had become a beautiful woman and he felt sure this was how he wanted to remember her, if she chose not to return to him...

"It doesn't matter," he told her.

His hearts were aching as he reasoned he could not envy another version of himself, especially not his final regeneration, because he had heard all about him, far more than he had shared with Ace, and because he knew all he did, he felt it would be unfair to deny him what could be one final meeting with one who had meant so much to him so many years before.

It was a decision that could have many outcomes, and the Doctor was certain of nothing.

He activated the controls and the Tardis shifted through space, landing inside the space station, as he wondered where this step into the unknown would lead both of them...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"_No nitro nine. This place is old and it's better to be cautious. And you know you don't need your bat..."_

"I know that, Professor!

Ace was quickly packing some clothing into her rucksack.

The Doctor stood by her open door and looked in, watching as she hurried to prepare to leave.

"This is so exciting!" Ace said as she finally completed her task, and then as she picked up her rucksack and walked out of her room, she turned to the Doctor as a sudden thought crossed her mind.

"If he's the last Doctor there's nothing he doesn't know! He must know everything about me and you and the future -"

"Ace, I told you before, it wouldn't be wise to ask him too much. How much do you want to know? At what point could you resist the urge to ask more?"

She thought about it and then nodded.

"Well I don't want to know when I die or anything like that, Professor - or when you regenerate. I couldn't handle that kind of information, it would be too much."

Hearing her make that statement set his mind at ease.

"Come on Ace," he said, "It's time for you to leave."

The Doctor opened the Tardis door and stepped outside, and Ace followed.

They were at the bottom of a narrow corridor, the walls were steel and glowed red where lights ran the length of the corridor. Here and there metal had fallen away to reveal exposed wiring, and the place had a sound all of its own – a kind of hum, but louder and less gentle than the Tardis.

"This place looks really old, Professor!" she exclaimed, "And a bit of repair work wouldn't go amiss... doesn't he bother to fix anything around here?"

The Doctor looked left and right and saw no one.

"Hello?" he called out, and his own voice echoed back at him.

Ace turned her head and he saw a flicker of apprehension in her eyes.

"It's so quiet here...and where is he?"

Just then an intercom bleeped on the wall.

"Hello Doctor and Ace McShane! I'll be with you in ten minutes...wait there."

Ace breathed a relieved sigh as she started to smile."I am so glad to hear his voice! This place is so...I dunno, spooky? It's so empty and quiet..."

The Doctor looked at her thoughtfully.

"I think perhaps it's time I left. After living all those lifetimes who knows how he might feel to be suddenly face to face with me. I don't know what kind of memories could come back to him – good or bad. I'll leave now Ace, I'll be back in a few days. I'm sure by then you'll have more than satisfied your curiosity...but _don't_ get too curious."

His remark had puzzled her.

"What do you mean by that, Professor?"

He smiled.

"Just be careful, " he replied, "And don't ask too many questions. I'll see you soon."

And then he stepped back into the Tardis and closed the door.

Ace looked up the empty corridor, hearing nothing but the hum of electricity as it flowed through damaged wiring.

"Professor, wait -"

The Tardis burst into life with a wheeze and a whoosh and faded in and out of view, and then it disappeared.

Ace stared at the spot where the police box had stood.

"Bye..." she said in hushed voice, wondering why he had left so abruptly.

* * *

Ace left her rucksack in the corridor and began to walk down towards the other end, where she saw it opened up into a wide room with metal walls.

The exposed wiring crackled and she stepped away sharply, keeping to the other side of the corridor as she carried on walking.

"Hello?" she called out, "Doctor, are you there?"

And her own voice echoed back at her as the ship made a hum louder than the Tardis, reminding her she was _not _in a place she knew as home any longer, but far away across the galaxy and now the Tardis was also far away, and so was the Professor...

"Hello?" she called out again, and then she stopped walking and listened, but still heard no sound.

"Where are you?" she whispered.

And then a metal door slid back and she turned around sharply.

"Ace McShane! It's so good to see you again!"

She caught er breath as he hugged her, it seemed the man who was the last version of the Doctor had come out of nowhere, but then as he let go of her and she looked behind him she saw a dark corridor.

"Where does that lead to?"

He hit a button and the metal door slid shut, then his fingers danced over a keypad, sealing the lock.

"Nowhere important."

"So why are you locking the door?"

He put his hands on her shoulders, leaning over to become eye level with her as he looked at her intently.

"I'd forgotten you're always asking questions!"

Ace looked at him and smiled.

He was the man she had seen in her dreams, the man who had held the snowflake that refused to melt. His hair was dark and fell in a fringe that he flicked out of his blue eyes with a toss of his head. Then he smiled back at at her and she decided he was definitely the most attractive version of the Doctor she had so far met...

"I've missed you for centuries," he said softly, "I never forgot you."

And Ace welcomed his remark although she knew she was yet to make sense of it, because thinking wasn't uppermost on her mid as she she smiled back at him, deciding his white shirt and his colourful waistcoat definitely suited him. Now she understood why the style of his clothing reminded her of a prince from a fairytale. And then her smile faded as she recalled the rest of _that _dream she had not wanted to tell the Professor about, and she put the thought out of her mind.

"So you're the last Doctor."

"Definitely, I've run out of regenerations. But I'm still a Time Lord and I could, in theory, live for hundreds of years...us Time Lords don't age very quickly, I expect you already know that."

"And how long have you been living here?" she asked him.

"A hundred years," he replied, "So not very long, well, not long to a Time Lord."

Ace started to smile again as she looked up at the tall, handsome man who was the last ever Doctor.

"The Professor told me about what you did, in the great battle to save Earth. That was very brave of you – I mean, you had no lives left, you could have been killed."

"But I couldn't walk away from the Earth when it was in such terrible danger," he told her, "I did what I had to do."

And then he fell silent for a moment, lost in his own thoughts.

"Doctor -"

He met her gaze.

"Call me Ed. Not Doctor or John Smith, just Ed."

"Okay Ed, I wanted to know something – how can you live here all on your own? Don't you get lonely?"

"No, I've got Barbara. She's my talking computer, she runs this place."

And he looked up towards the ceiling.

"Say hello to Ace McShane, Barbara."

"Hello Ace," said an electronic female voice.

"Hi," Ace said, wondering how he could have lived here for a century with only a talking computer for company.

"So you actually live inhere, in the space station?" she said to him, "You never leave or...where's your Tardis?"

His eyes sparkled as he smiled and then he put his arm around her shoulder, and she rather liked it there.

"You don't know?" he said, and she shook her head.

"This _is_ my Tardis," he told her, "She took a lot of battle damage a century ago – I'd only just got around to fixing the chameleon circuit when it happened! Just my luck, I go through thousands of years of leaving it broken, get it fixed, then get caught up in a huge battle that almost wrecked my ship! The Tardis is limited these days, that's why she's taken on the outward appearance of a space station. And this zone is just part of what she looks like on the inside – there are many other places in here."

Ace looked up at him as her eyes shone with excitement.

"Like other worlds?"

"She took memories from times and places I'd been over the course of all my lifetimes and created time zones to reflect it. The space station we're in now is just one of the zones. There's a sunken ship, a medieval castle and an Aztec zone too!"

Her eyes widened.

"For real?"

"For real!"

"_Ace!" _she exclaimed excitedly, "I want to explore your Tardis, Ed – it sounds like such an exciting place!"

They walked down the corridor and turned into a the room at the end where the walls were made of steel and a console glowed. His arm was still around her shoulder and she was very comfortable for him to keep it there.

"Is this the console room?"

"No," he told her, "It's just something the Tardis dreamed up."

And he looked around the room for a moment and then met her gaze once more.

"She dreams a lot these days," he said, "The old girl likes to dream. Sometimes she sings me to sleep, too."

And then he fell silent and took his arm off her shoulder, and Ace missed his closeness.

"It's so hard to believe you're the Doctor!" she said, "I think about the Professor, and you - and you're so different to him."

"All my lifetimes have been different," he replied, "That's the whole point of regeneration. But lets not talk about that now – there's no point, my lives are all used up."

"So, you have two hearts like all your other lives did?"

"I'll show you."

Her eyes widened as he unbuttoned his waist coat and then opened up some buttons on his shirt.

"Feel it," he said, and he grabbed her hand and pushed it inside his open shirt, first on one side of his chest and then the other.

His skin felt warm and she gently let her hand rest there as their eyes met.

"Can you feel that?" he asked her softly.

"Your hearts are racing," she said quietly.

"Because I haven't seen you for many lifetimes," he told her, "And I've missed you, Ace McShane."

For a moment silence passed between them as she looked into his eyes as her hand rested gently against his chest.

Then she drew her hand away and he closed his shirt.

"Have you missed me a lot?"

Ace was looking down at the floor as she asked that question, because it had been difficult to ask, and now she was blushing.

"I missed you every day," he replied, "I never forgot you."

Then the computer spoke up again.

"_Edward, power lines are draining to the main supply. I am diverting energy from the space station zone to compensate. You must take your new companion elsewhere."_

Ed looked up as he replied.

"Thank you Barbara, we're leaving now. And let me know when power's back on optimum flow."

Ace frowned.

"There's some kind of power problem with your Tardis?"

"Not exactly. The central power core has to run all over the place to keep the worlds that exist within my Tardis alive. So there's a lot of energy flowing all around the place, all the time. Sometimes there's a drain that weakens the central power core and Barbara has to ensure it doesn't become serious. She's always monitoring it."

"Did you build Barbara?" Ace asked him, "I mean, is she here to keep you company as well as help out with the power core?"

He smiled as he shook his head.

"No Ace," he told her, "Barbara_ is_ the Tardis. I gave her a voice and gave the voice a name. When I'm talking to her, I'm talking _with_ the Tardis."

Ace looked at him in surprise.

"The Professor never thought to do that."

"He didn't need to."

"Why did you need to?"

Ed shot her a knowing glance that reminded her a little of her Professor.

"Did _your_ Doctor tell you not to ask too many questions?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that!"

"Well don't ask any more!" he said to her, "Because I've lived many lives and I probably ought to know what you're going to ask, but I've forgotten half the answers already!"

Then the lights dimmed.

"_Power divert initiating in ten seconds,"_ Barbara said.

As the room grew dark Ace drew in a slow breath, feeling disoriented as she wondered where to turn.

Then Ed took hold of her hand.

"Come with me," he said, "I know a quick way out of here."

And he kept a tight hold on her hand as he dashed back down the corridor and Ace broke into a run, having no choice in the matter as he hurried up the passage way as lights flickered and failed, plunging the corridor into darkness.

* * *

As they turned a corner and reached a grey stone wall, Ace was breathless as she spoke again.

"Why don't we just go out the way you came in?"

"No," he replied, "I can't take you to the centre of the ship."

"Is that where the console room is?"

"Yes, and the main power core, it's been altered by the Tardis to keep this place functioning the way it does...I can't allow you to you go in there, it's too complicated."

"What is?"

Ed pushed open a high wooden gate.

"Come on Ace, " he said, "Time for a change of scene. Let's go back to my place."

And he took her by the hand and led her through the gate.

"You haven't answered my question..."

Ace fell silent as she looked around in amazement:

They had entered a medieval castle.

The whole place was lit by candle light and as he led her into a large hall and over to a table she finally found her voice again.

"It looks so real!"

"I know, the Tardis is a clever old girl. She's full of surprises."

And he picked up a riding crop from the table and gestured around the room at the many doors that led off from the hall.

"Some of these rooms have games inside them," he told her, "It was the Tardis who thought that one up – something to keep me amused, to stop me getting bored while I was on my own."

And then he took a seat at the table and so did Ace.

"This place is great!" she exclaimed.

And then he set the riding crop back on the table and looked at Ace and she caught a flicker of sadness in his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking about the past...the great battle to save the Earth..."

"The Professor was right, I shouldn't have asked you about it. I'm, sorry, I didn't mean to bring back bad memories."

"I don't mind telling you about it," he said, "I never should have got involved, but it didn't really matter that I was in my final lifetime, I had to take the chance. I couldn't walk away from your planet when it was faced with such a threat – I'm the Doctor, I simply can't walk away."

"And you saved the Earth."

Sorrow filled his eyes.

"Yes, I did. And my two companions were killed in the process and I was wounded."

Again, Ace regretted bringing up the subject of the battle.

"I'm sorry you lost your friends," she said softly, and she reached over and placed her hand over his, and suddenly she didn't want to let go again as their eyes locked.

"I thought of you," he said quietly, "When the battle was over. I thought how I could have done with Ace McShane and a few cans of her nitro nine!"

And he laughed and so did she. Then his smile faded and that haunted look was back in his eyes.

"I'll never forget that day. The loss, the devastation, the pain..."

"Were you badly wounded?" she asked.

He kept hold of her hand and with his free hand briefly placed his hand on his left side just above his hip.

"Yes, I was shot with a rather powerful laser bolt weapon. It wasn't the kind of wound that's left a visible scar – it did the damage inside, slowly creeping through my body. It was agony. But I survived, and the Earth was saved. That's all that matters now."

"Is that why you went off to deep space to live alone? Because everyone died?"

"No," he replied, "I'd had enough of fighting. I just wanted a peaceful life."

"I don't blame you for wanting that," she told him, "So would I."

And she looked into his eyes and swore she could see the Professor reflected there somewhere, far back in one of his many lifetimes...

_"He's in love with you,"_ Ed told her quietly, _"Your Doctor, the one you call Professor. I know it because I recall when I was him many regenerations ago. But he never told you. I think that's why he left so abruptly, because he knew that I am the Doctor who knows everything for every lifetime he's ever lived and has yet to live. He couldn't face the possibility that I might have told you the truth."_

Ace felt stunned as she thought of the Professor, her close friend, the man she had felt so fond of, so close to for so long...

"He never said a word."

"And he won't, not in his Seventh lifetime."

"Will he tell me in another regeneration?"

_"I just did,"_ Ed said to her, _"I still love you, Ace McShane. I never stopped. You were the last person I thought of when -"_

Then he stopped, letting go of her hand as he shifted back from her.

"Forget I said that...perhaps I shouldn't have told you about the Professor's feelings for you. He will most likely deny it when you see him again."

Ace was staring at him.

"He _loves_ me?"

"The _Doctor_ loves you. I loved you then and I still love now. I knew the day you would arrive here, because I recall being him, leaving you here to meet with me. I've loved you for thousands of years."

"And you never stopped?"

"_Never."_

Ace had now cast aside the Professor's warning about the danger of asking too much about the future, because she was sure she had so many questions needing answers in the whole of her life.

"What did you mean when you said I was the last person you thought of? What's that about?"

"After I was wounded in the great battle. I thought of you, I pictured your face in my mind and I recalled that back in my Seventh life I took a trip far into the distant future to meet the last Doctor. _To find me! _You were worth holding on for. I went through terrible pain and I closed my eyes not knowing if I would survive, but I kept the thought of you bright in my mind."

And then he smiled.

"_And I survived."_

Ace drew in a sharp breath as something seemed to wake up suddenly in her heart, a truth she ought to have known all the long:

_She loved him too, she had always loved the Doctor, and now time had come full circle..._

"You waited a very long time for me."

"_Many lifetimes."_

Ace leaned closer, and as their lips touched she knew in her heart there could be no room for doubt or hesitation, she loved the Doctor and he had waited for her...

As he took her in his arms she rose from her seat, sliding on to his lap and welcoming his embrace. His kiss deepened as he held her close, and as she clung to him it seemed that all of her journeys with the Professor had been leading up to this moment, as if it was her destiny, a fixed point in time that nothing could alter – the last Doctor was destined to be the man she loved, the man she would love forever...

She was breathless as she broke off from their kiss.

"I don't get this, I don't get how something can happen so fast yet make so much sense!"

His eyes shone with love as he looked at her.

"Of course it makes sense, I've waited so long for you, for this moment!"

And then he kissed her again, and the voice of the Tardis spoke up:

"_Power divert successful, optimum power estimated to run eight hours until next energy drain."_

He looked upwards as he replied.

"Thank you, Barbara."

Ace giggled.

"I didn't expect us to get interrupted by the Tardis!"

And he slid his arms around her and kissed her again.

"Now you know why all the other Doctors never gave her a voice!"

Ace looked into his eyes , wondering how she had lived her life without ever knowing this moment was waiting for her, when she would be united with the very last Doctor, the man she was destined to love forever...

"Was that okay?" he asked, and she caught a flash of uncertainty in his eyes.

"What d you mean?"

"Me grabbing you and kissing you like that -"

Ace started to laugh softly.

"It's fine," she promised him, "I never knew you could be so passionate, Doctor!"

"I can be very passionate," he promised her, "And gentle, too. I'm not always forceful. But after waiting so long, can you blame me?"

She smiled as she shook her head.

"I don't blame you at all, if I'd known I'd been waiting all my life to meet you, I would have ripped your clothes off back at the space station!"

"Did you want to?"

"The thought crossed my mind. I wondered what you looked like naked..."

He laughed.

"You should have said so, I would have stripped off! No one else is here, Ace. It's just you and me. We can do whatever we like!"

Her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"So, Doctor -"

"Ed," he reminded her.

"So, Ed..." Ace said seductively as playfulness sparkled in her eyes, "How about you and me go somewhere more comfortable? You said this is your place, so I take it your bedroom is around here somewhere?"

"Yes, it's just up the stairway."

Ace wriggled on his lap and saw a spark of excitement in his eyes as he started to harden all over again.

She ran her fingers through his hair and whispered in his ear.

He looked at her in surprise.

"You've got a real talent for talking dirty! I _love_ it!"

Desire shone in her eyes.

"_Take me to bed, Doctor."_

"I intend to," he told her, "You're coming with me, Ace McShane!"

Then he got up so fast she almost slid to the floor, but he caught her and then grabbed her by the hand and they hurried together from the castle hall and went up the stairway towards the bedroom.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_Imaginarium, a dream emporium_  
_ Caress the tales_  
_ And they will dream you real_  
_ A storyteller's game_  
_ Lips that intoxicate_  
_ The core of all life is a_  
_ Limitless chest of tales_

_~ Storytime, Nightwish_

* * *

The candle light flickered softly against the walls of the medieval castle, making a warm glow where shadows gently danced as Ace ran her hand over her lover's chest and then welcomed his passionate kiss.

She kissed him again and ran her fingers through his hair as he rolled her on to her back and looked into her eyes.

"I've missed you for so long..." Ed was breathless and his voice was filled with desire as he took her in his arms, and she gasped with every movement as the bed knocked stone against wood as she wondered if the old four poster bed could stand up to his stamina.

Their lovemaking was passionate, and then Ace lay in his arms, her flesh gleaming with sweat as she recovered her breath.  
But her Time Lord lover had recovered much faster than she could.

"Let's take a shower," he said, and she gave a weak moan of protest to have her rest broken, but he put his arm around her and sat her up, and then he led her through a doorway to a bathroom, and switched on a very modern looking shower unit.

* * *

The Tardis was floating gently in space.

The Seventh Doctor thought of the other Doctor, the last one, so far away, just like Ace was, and his hearts ached for all the things he had not said before he had left in too much of a hurry:

_He knew he had kept far too many secrets from Ace._

_But it seemed no matter how hard he tried to be open and honest with her, something always slipped through the net, got left behind and his usual way of withholding the facts came between them once more._

_He had certainly held far too much back this time, and he knew it..._

Before she had left, long before she had left, he had wanted to tell her how he felt.

But the time had never seemed right.

_Perhaps now it never would be..._

As he looked out at the inky blackness of space he felt a mix of pain and regret as he recalled the countless opportunities he had never taken to tell Ace how he truly felt.

Then he thought of all he knew about the last Doctor, and all he had failed to explain to Ace:

_He knew he should have told her the whole story._

_But he had deliberately held back, again._

His reason? The usual, _protecting _her.

Even though she was a young woman in her twenties with a strong heart and a brave soul who did not need protecting, he simply did it out of habit in the way that he loved her from afar out of habit, a habit that had been too easily formed and was now impossible to break...

Perhaps it was meant to be this way, that she would discover everything for herself and then that strong heart and brave soul of hers would decide she could handle the truth, that she was tough enough to deal with knowing all that he had failed to explain, and perhaps nothing would deter her from making a choice that he didn't want to contemplate...

_He didn't want to be without Ace._

But perhaps it was meant to be this way, that he would let her go now and wait for thousands of years until they were finally reunited in his final lifetime...

It would be a long wait if his theory was right, and he desperately wanted to be wrong about it.

But as he recalled it was his own future he was thinking about in another regeneration, he guessed he could not feel envious, as it made no sense to envy himself...

_Perhaps he was wrong._

Maybe he would go back in a few days time and Ace would be waiting for him and happy to see him...

_Or maybe not. _

Maybe he would see anger and pain in her eyes as she yelled at him, demanding to know why he had held back so much from her...

He looked down at the console, his hand hovering above the controls as he considered going back.

But then he cancelled that thought – how could he possibly explain all he knew in front of his final regeneration?

He knew the story of the last Doctor.

Perhaps the last Doctor would also choose not to tell her everything, perhaps he would hold back from her just as he was doing now, in his Seventh life...

He gave a heavy sigh.

"Oh, what's the use?" he said aloud, "It's in the hands of time now!"

And then he set a new flight plan, heading for a planet on the edge of the star map, an Earth colony, where he hoped to spend some time _not_ thinking about Ace and choices he should, or should not, have made...

* * *

Ace was resting in cool sheets that were crumpled and damp from lovemaking. But the shower had woken her up, and as she lay there she turned her head and smiled at the man who lay beside her – the Doctor, the man she ought to have known she would end up with one day, because it all made perfect sense now. They made perfect sense, simply by being together, it all seemed so right, as if all the missing pieces in her life had fallen into place in the most beautiful of ways...

"I've never had this before," she said softly.

Ed was on his back with his hands behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling.

He smiled and looked to Ace.

"I think you have, Ace. You definitely wasn't a virgin – you pushed me on the bed and ripped off my clothes as soon as we got in here!"

She laughed.

"No, I don't mean it like that...I've never had _this_, I mean its never felt so right before."

"It's supposed to feel right. That's what happens when you're with the right person."

And they looked at each other, and Ace felt a deep sense of peace.

"It's so strange to think I've been with the love of my life since the day I met the Doctor – but I never knew I'd end up with him in another regeneration."

"_I suppose it's too soon to ask if you might want to to stay."_

She caught a brief flash of anxiety in his eyes, and she thought about his question.

"Well I don't know. I might. I want to, but...no. Don't ask me that question again, not yet."

"It's too soon."

"For now," she told him, and then as he turned on his side she put her arms around him and pulled him into a gentle embrace.

"Have I wrecked everything?"

His head was on her shoulder, his face against her hair and his breath soft and warm as he spoke with such hesitation in his voice.

She stroked his hair.

"Don't worry about the future, Ed. We've found each other now. Let's just take it as it comes, eh?"

He looked into her eyes and she wondered why he suddenly seemed so afraid.

"I can't lose you again," he said quietly.

"You won't lose me!" she told him, "I could never turn away from this...it's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"But you might change your mind."

He was resting his head on her shoulder once more and then he turned his head, kissing her neck as he used her hair to brush away tears he couldn't allow her to see.

"Why would I change my mind?" she said, "I'm really happy."

He gave a sigh.

"You don't know everything about me. You might decide this life isn't enough for you -"

"Because you want to live in a Tardis that creates all these worlds for you? Because you'd rather be here, living peacefully instead of out there fighting the bad guys? Because you're in your last regeneration and you just want to live quietly? Don't be silly!"

"No, it's not like that."

And he raised his head from her shoulder and looked into her eyes again.

Ace frowned.

"I don't understand. I don't see a problem."

He hesitated.

"What's the matter?" she asked him gently.

He gave a sigh.

"No, it's complicated... I will explain properly, but not yet. I shouldn't have said anything..."

"But now you have and I want to know, I need to understand."

He shifted back, resting his head on the same pillow as Ace as he looked into her eyes.

"It's a long and complicated story."

"I've got all night to listen."

"It's about what happened in the great battle."

Her expression changed to one of deep concern.

"Oh Ed, do you get flashbacks? Is it like shell shock or something? Don't worry, I'll help you with it...do you get nightmares too?"

"No, it's _nothing _like that! I'm a Time Lord, I've fought in more battles and had more experience of war than I can count! I stopped being traumatised by it long ago."

"Then what is it?"

He paused for a moment, then decided to keep it as brief as he could, because he regretted ever bringing up the subject...

"I don't want to talk about it in detail, not now...it's about the injury I received in the battle. It still gives me a lot of trouble sometimes, as you know I'm in my final regeneration and I'm not as resilient as I used to be, I'm getting old -"

"Stop it!" she said softly as she shifted closer, then she slid her hand over his shoulder and leaned in to kiss him gently.

"Ace, just let me explain -"

She put a finger to his lips as she looked at him with eyes filled with love and admiration.

"_I love you, Doctor. And it doesn't matter to me if you still get trouble with old war wounds. You're a hero. You got wounded saving the Earth. That makes you the bravest man in the universe."_

And he gave a sigh, and gave up on trying to explain.

"Thanks for saying that. But I just did what I felt was right. I always have, it's what the Doctor does."

Ace ran her hand down his body, resting it gently above his hip.

"So it still hurts sometimes?"

"Sometimes, yes."

"I'll take care of that for you," she said softly, and as she traced a path of kisses down his body he turned on to his back and closed his eyes, and then he reached down and tangled his fingers in her silky hair as he gave a sigh and enjoyed her caress, and finally put thoughts of the past right out of his mind as he thought only of Ace, and lost himself in her touch and her closeness, something he had dreamed of for more years than he could remember...

* * *

Ace woke several hours later and ran her hand across the empty space beside her and opened her eyes sharply. She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair and looked around the room:

She was still in the bedroom in the medieval castle, which came as a great relief, because for one awful moment she feared she had dreamed of falling in love with a gorgeous Time Lord, and if that Time Lord was just a dream, it would have been a bitter disappointment...

But she was still here, in the bed that carried the scent of her lover - and also the scent of just about _everything_ they had got up to the night before...

She smiled as memories flooded her senses and she felt a warm glow deep inside.

Then she wondered exactly where her gorgeous Time Lord had gone.

"Doctor?" she called out, but heard no reply.

"Where are you?" she wondered.

And then she noticed a breakfast tray and some hot tea next to the bed, along with a note:

_'Ace, I'm busy solving a problem with the power core – it may take a few hours to fix, see you soon, love Ed.'_

She gave a sigh.

"He could have kissed me goodbye!" she exclaimed, and then she got up, showered, dressed at ate breakfast.

And then Ace waited, but he did not return.

* * *

After sitting in the bedroom for an hour she thought about the voice of the Tardis and addressed it:

"Barbara, where is Ed?"

The voice replied at once.

"_He is adjusting the power flow to the energy core."_

"Can I do anything to help?"

Ace had asked the question hopefully, but the reply she got was short and sharp:

"_You are not permitted to enter the console room. Only Ed is permitted access to the main power core."_

"But I just wanted to help."

"_There is nothing you can do, it is not possible to allow you entry."_

"Okay," Ace replied, "I was only trying to help."

And then she left the bedroom and went down the stairway.

Candles flickered as their light shone a warm glow about the castle.

"Can I explore?" she asked the Tardis.

"_You may enter any zone you wish but do not attempt to enter the console room, the door is locked."_

"Can you show me around?"

As she asked that question, Ace felt sure she was getting used to speaking to the Tardis and receiving an answer, and next time she stepped into the Professor's Tardis, the place would seem very quiet without the voice of Barbara...

"_My attention is diverted to the console room. No I can not accompany you."_

"But I can go anywhere?"

"_You are permitted to explore the maze."_

"The maze?" Ace said, "What maze?"

"_The zones within this vessel are linked by many routes to form a maze. I must divert my attention to assisting Ed in the console room. Do not get lost, Ace McShane."_

"Lost?" The warning made her feel slightly nervous.

"How can I get lost, this is the Tardis..."

"_If you lose your way it may take time to locate you. Only the Maze Master knows his way around the maze, Ace. He will not be able to reach you for several hours, he is busy."_

"So if I get lost I'll have to stay lost for a while?"

"_That is correct. And some games rooms have automatic time controls and activate lock-ins."_

She started to smile.

"Oh yeah! He said about the games rooms...that sounds like fun, I'm up for a challenge!"

And then she paused for thought.

"I am safe, right?"

"_All games are created for the Doctor's entertainment. There is nothing harmful in the maze, Ace. And be aware that due to power flow diverts, you may find lights go out without warning. If this happens please proceed to the nearest alternative zone."_

"But I don't know how to get to the next zone."

"_Then try not to get lost. It will cause great inconvenience to Ed," _Barbara replied, _"I must now join him in the power core."_

"But what if I get lost?"

Ace looked upwards, waiting for a reply, but none came.

She gave a sigh, and then she started to make her way through the castle. Then she hesitated, wondering if she would get lost in the maze. But the Doctor was busy and she was on her own and didn't want to hang about in one place while there were worlds inside the maze to explore.

"Oh well, " she said aloud, "If I get lost you'll just have to come and find me..."

* * *

Ace continued to walk through the castle and passed many doorways.

She stopped now and then to look through windows, and noticed some of the rooms seemed to have games set up inside them. She decided to come back later and try them out – but it would be more fun to play if she was not alone, and her urge to explore took over all else as she went deeper down a winding hallway, then through a darkened tunnel, and found herself at the edge of a river of murky, bubbling water. A rope was strung across it and stepping stones were just above the waterline.

Ace hesitated, wondering what was in that water, and how deep it was, because she couldn't see the bottom – and then she remembered Barbara had told her nothing in the maze was harmful, so she cautiously stepped on to the first stone, and then the second, holding on to the rope to steady her balance.

She looked down and watched the water as it bubbled and reminded herself again that nothing here was harmful. She was sure it wasn't deep, but all the same she didn't want to fall in and find out the hard way...

Up ahead, the next part of the maze was in shadow.

Ace looked left and right, and suddenly her interest was sparked at the sight of a door embedded in the wall of the tunnel. It was far across the water from the stepping stones, but as she looked at it she wondered what lie behind it, and then as she stood balancing on the stones as the water bubbled she made a decision, and let go of the rope and cautiously lowered herself into the water.

It was warm and clean and what ever made it murky was certainly not harmful, it felt more like a dip in a jacuzzi. The water came up to her waist and the floor beneath her feet was solid and smooth, reminding her of the Tardis floors back on the Professor's ship.

She waded through the water and reached the doorway, then climbed up on to a ledge and reached for the handle. The door was metal and the handle was stiff, obviously this was a room that had not been entered for a very long time...

She used both hands to push down the lever, and then she threw her weight against it and the door groaned open on rusted hinges.

* * *

Ace she stood in the doorway looking around in surprise:

This room was very out of place, it certainly wasn't a part of the maze. In here the walls were white and filled with roundels that reminded her of the Professor's Tardis. There was a small console and a monitor mounted on a desk across the other side of the room.

"What is this place?" she said aloud, and walked into the room as water dripped from her clothing on to the polished floor.

Ace took a seat at the small console and switched on the monitor, then flipped a button on the console that said _Activate._

The screen jumped to life, displaying a list with the heading _Flight Records- Personal Data._

She hesitated, wondering if it would be wrong to access any of this data, because it was nothing to do with her...but curiosity had got the better of her, and as she noticed every single entry was a century out of date, she touched the screen and accessed an entry.

The screen began to play back old footage, and she watched with interest:

"Hello Diary!" said Ed, "Today we went to the planet of Kashorine, its been stressful and hard work and now I have a headache, but I brought back enough power crystals to boost the power core of this Tardis by one thousand percent!"

And he held his closed hand out to the camera and opened it, revealing a small, round, glowing crystal.

"With this kind of power the Tardis will last forever!" he exclaimed, and then he leaned back in the very seat Ace was now sitting in, and she stared as a woman walked up behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Turn that thing off, darling," she said softly, "It's been a long day..."

And he gave a sigh and closed his eyes as she began to gently massage his temples.

"How's that, Doctor?" she asked, "Better?"

And Ace continued to stare at the screen as the slender woman with long fair hair and dark eyes continued to gently rub away all his tension. Her eyes seemed impossibly dark, just like her skin seemed far too pale, and Ace had no idea of her species, but she had definitely not been human...

On the screen, she continued with her massage.

"Oh yes, that's much better. Now I know why I married you, Barbara..."

Ace drew in a sharp breath.

"Barbara was a _real _person?" she exclaimed.

And the woman was still gently rubbing his temples with her fingertips as music began to float into the room.

"Thank you, Tardis..." Ed said, "You know how to soothe me to sleep at the end of a hard day..."

And as Ace continued to listen to the music that filled the room, she finally recognised it as the music from her dream, and it was then she recalled the title of the piece.

"_Ave Maria?" _she said.

On the screen, he gave another sigh.

"Keep going, that's getting rid of the headache..."

"I want you to turn that recording device off," she said again.

He looked up at her.

"Why?"

She smiled and leaned over him, kissing him gently.

He pulled back from her as he smiled and looked into her eyes.

"Guess what else I've done...I've given the Tardis a voice. _Yours._ And I've called it Barbara."

She laughed.

"Oh stop it! You do such crazy things sometimes!"

And then she kissed him again and her hand covered the camera, and then the screen went dark.

_End of Entry _was the message that now displayed on the screen.

Ace thought of Ed, alone in his old Tardis, with no one but the voice of the ship for company – a constant reminder of his late wife... Her heart ached as she wished she had never accessed the entry.

"You can't live like this," she said quietly, "You need to get away from here...start again somewhere new..."

And then the screen changed back to the list of entries.

She felt guilty now, as if she was turning over old memories she had no right to disturb. She recalled how he had said he had always loved her, had kept her in his hearts and clung to the hope that they would meet again. Yet he had married his alien wife Barbara, no doubt by then he had waited too long for his Ace to show up in the distant future, and he had needed, and had tried, to love again – she didn't doubt Barbara's death must have left him heartbroken. But this room hadn't been accessed for more than a century, she reasoned that maybe Ed didn't want to come in here and look back over times gone by for fear of waking painful memories...

But her curiosity had been aroused, and now it was too late to simply walk away, she wanted to look through this window into the past and see what else had happened in his life a century before.

As she reached for the touch screen again, her heart feeling heavy with sadness and guilt caused by her own actions, but it was too late now – she could not turn away from what she had discovered, because the need to know was too great to resist...


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Ace hesitated as she looked at the screen.

In front of her was displayed a long list of moments captured a century before, and she wanted to view every single one of them, to catch a glimpse of the past, to shed some light on all the secrets this hidden room had kept for a hundred years.

She was not exploring this archive without a heavy degree of guilt, and as she thought of the last Doctor and his tragic past she knew the right thing to do, the decent thing to do, would be to get up from this seat, walk out of the room, close the door and pretend she had never found her way into the secret room that had had been sealed off for so long.

But she couldn't do it, because she was Ace, and her curiosity and the need to know _always_ won through despite all else...

"Sorry, Ed," she whispered, "I don't mean to pry...I just want to know what happened..."

And she ran her finger down the list of entries, and selected one of the final recordings.

The screen switched to the Doctor sitting in front of the camera. Before he had greeted the screen with a smile, but now the look in his eyes had darkened.

"_I'm making this entry to record the facts as I know them to be – there is a war being fought over the domination of Earth between the hostile alien nations of Catania and Seyarus – either side will destroy the planet, I have no choice but to intervene -"_

"And be killed! You have to walk away from this one, Doctor – we can't fight any more battles. You won't regenerate again, this is too dangerous for you!"

Ace peered closer to the screen, seeing a man standing at the back of the room as the Doctor addressed the screen. His fair hair was combed back and he wore a metal eye patch.

"Please," he said, "Think about this – going into battle now could be suicide!"

And Ed's eyes reflected sadness as he replied to his companion.

"The Earth will be destroyed. Either side will obliterate all life from the planet. I can't walk away from that, Jayden!"

"If you want to fight," his companion said, "I'll fight alongside you one last time. But I _still_ think it's a bad idea."

The Doctor looked into the camera.

"_I have no choice," _he said again, _"Billions of lives are at stake."_

And the entry ended abruptly.

Ace looked at the screen in silence as the list of entries came up once more. Her gaze fell on the final entry, and with a heavy heart she activated the screen.

As the recording began to play she stared in shock at the sight of the Doctor, who looked very different to the last entry in the archive. Up until this point, Ed had looked just as he did now, a century later, but here much had happened since his previous archive recording:

His shirt was stained and blackened from smoke, and blood ran from a cut just above his left eye. He clutched at his side and dragged in a breath as he struggled to speak.

"_The Earth is safe... but Jayden and Barbara are both dead...I've been hit by a shot from a high powered laser bolt gun...sent an SOS...I don't know if or when it will be heard...I had to move the Tardis far from the battle zone, got out slightly too late...she's taken damage...a lot of damage...main power core is still functioning...this may be my last entry..."_

The screen switched back to the list of archived entries, and Ace blinked away tears as she thought of the terrible battle that had lost the Doctor his wife and a close friend, and seen him wounded and left the Tardis damaged.

"You went though all that to save the Earth," she whispered, and then she turned off the screen and wiped tears from her eyes. Then Ace got up from the chair and took a last look around the room before leaving and closing the door firmly behind her.

Now she was out of the hidden room, she felt a little better. She stood at the waters edge and tried to picture how the Tardis had been before it had turned itself into a fantasy world that held worlds within it, and guessed the now concealed room where the archives were kept had once been a room that ran off the long and winding Tardis corridor.

She understood now, she understood clearly why he had chosen to live in deep space in a vastly transformed Tardis where he could be far from memories of all that had happened a century before...

* * *

The water was still bubbling, still looked murky. She knew it was safe but all the same Ace slipped back into it cautiously, making her way along the tunnel towards the end, deciding it would be better to stay in the water than try to climb up on to the stepping stones.

As she reached the end of the tunnel she pulled herself up and out of the water, then paused to push wet hair off her face as she took a look around:

"No way..." she murmured, looking up at what seemed to be the boiler room of an old ship.

And then she wondered how to get in, and as she saw a way to get in, she smiled.

"This looks like fun!" she said, and reached for the rope ladder and climbed it with ease, scrambling up on to a metal walkway.

"Wow..." she whispered, looking around and seeing water dripping from the stairway, "It's like a real sunken ship!"

And then she grabbed the rail and hurried up the stairway, wondering where it would lead to next.

As Ace reached the top of the stairway she found herself in a corridor, and she turned a corner and realised she now seemed to be inside the upper level of the ship – as she walked along the upper level she saw several doors ran off on one side, and there was a balcony on the other. She walked to a staircase and looked down into a wide, carpeted area where sofas were arranged and then she went down the staircase, and ran over to a porthole, staring in surprise at the sight of fish swimming in dark water.

She put her hand against the cold glass.

"_No way!" _she exclaimed again.

And then she turned on hearing the mewing of a cat.

"Are you real?" she whispered.

And a black cat with bright green eyes padded over to her and rubbed its head against her leg, purring loudly.

"Hello," Ace said, stroking the friendly cat and then lifting it up into her arms.

"So the Tardis has a cat now...oh, you have a collar, too..let me see what it says..."

And she read the name on the tag.

"Hello Starbuck!" she said, and the cat mewed again and she placed it back on the floor.

It ran towards the staircase, then jumped up from the rail to the shoulder of an elegant statue, before leaping off and darting back into the shadows.

Ace listened, hearing the vague sound of a ship's engine, and watching as water reflected about the room from the portholes beyond.

"Is this place actually underwater?" she said aloud, "Wow, Tardis... you've really done a work of art with this zone!"

But no voice replied to her remark.

Ace went over to a comfortable-looking sofa and sat down. She was still spellbound to think the Tardis had created a sunken ship, complete with water outside...

_And then, with no warning, all the lights went out._

* * *

On the Earth colony planet of Iilea, the Seventh Doctor had checked into a hotel and then made his way down to a plush-looking bar. He ordered a non alcoholic cocktail and a packet of peanuts and then took a seat by a wide window, looking out on to a view where twin suns were high in the sky, and he tried not to think about Ace.

The bar was not busy, but he had not expected it to be at this time of day, because the colony had turned itself into a holiday resort due to its lush green spaces and white sand beaches, and most of the guests were out enjoying the sunshine. He sipped the drink and opened the bag of nuts and tried to think about anything but Ace, and still failed miserably.

And then someone sat down at his table, taking the seat opposite and placing a tall glass of iced mineral water on the table as they spoke up.

"Mind if I join you?"

The Doctor was still looking out of the window. A woman had just sat down at his table and for all he knew, she could have been stunningly beautiful, but he really didn't care, because as hard as he tried not to think of Ace, he just couldn't stop.

"Go ahead. Sit where you like. Although the bar is more or less empty, you could always find your own table if you wanted to."

"You know what they say."

"What do they say?" he was still looking out of the window.

"A girl walks into a bar..."

"Sounds like the start of a joke. I'm not in the mood for jokes."

"Why not?"

"My close friend just left me – for another version of _me_, I think that's what's going to happen. I'm not sure yet."

"If you're not sure, maybe it hasn't happened yet."

"That's a good point -"

The Doctor fell silent as he turned to his companion and saw very little of her, because the woman who sat at his table was holding up an open book, and the title was _Reversing the Process and Effects of Classical Emission – the Next Generation of Effective Methodology._

"Is that your holiday reading material?" he asked her, and she turned a page.

"No, its research. I like to stay on top of things..."

And the Doctor looked at her, studying the cut of her elegant off white blouse and the way her silver bracelet stood out against tanned skin. Her hair was long and dark and fell in waves to her shoulders.

"I'm the Doctor," he said.

"I'm a scientist," she replied, and continued to read her book.

And the Doctor was intrigued as he continued to study her and think about the random chance of the two of them meeting like this...

"So how come you're here?" he asked her.

"Well," she replied, still reading her book, "I'm pretty sure it's linked to my parents having _sex_ thirty-seven years ago."

And the Doctor's eyes widened in surprise, and the woman carried on reading.

"No, I meant -"

"Why am I here on this planet?"

She closed the book and put it down on the table and smiled as green eyes sparkled.

"One of those spur of the moment decisions. I was passed up for promotion by my prick of a boss, mainly because I wouldn't sleep with him, and I quit my job and decided to go freelance. I've just bought up a new premises on Earth and I'm taking six months off before I branch out on my own. I've got a research lab already started up and my own side of the business opens when I get back. That's why I'm here, Doctor."

And he looked at her thoughtfully as it crossed his mind that nothing that _ever _happened in the universe was random...

"There's always a deeper meaning," he remarked.

"For what?"

"Anything, life, patterns, decisions and choices..."

"Maybe," she replied, "Can I grab your nuts?"

And she reached across the table for the peanuts, and a briefly startled expression left the Doctor's eyes as he smiled.

She tipped some peanuts from the bag, paused to chew and swallow and then carried on talking.

"I've often thought about that – how some things seem fixed like they just can't be changed, as if some journeys, no matter how many different turns you make, will always lead to the same destination."

"And the same conclusion," he said thoughtfully, "What's your name?"

"Selena Eliot," she replied, "And you are?"

"Just the Doctor."

He leaned on the table, looking at her intently.

"_Keep talking."_

"Why?" she asked him.

"I'm not sure," he told her, "But something is starting to make sense..."

* * *

The Ocean Zone was still plunged in darkness.

Ace stood up, feeling disoriented to be in a strange place in the pitch blackness.

"Hello?" she called out, "Please, can someone hear me?"

And her own voice echoed back at her.

She drew in a slow breath and fought off the panic that was threatening to rise as she thought about the possibility of being lost in the darkness for hours...

"Doctor?" she called, and again heard the echo of her own voice.

"Barbara?" she yelled, "I need some help... the lights are out!"

But the Tardis computer gave no reply.

Ace gave a sigh.

"That's just great!" she complained, "I'm in wet clothes, I'm in the dark and I _don't_ know where I'm going!"

Then Ace took some cautious steps into the middle of the room, recalling the stairway. She made her way towards it, gasped as she bumped into a statue and then shifted carefully around it and grabbed the rail, and began to climb the stairs.

"Maybe the lights will come back on," she said as she made her way up the stairs, "It's another power divert..._Why _does the Tardis need to keep diverting power? Why doesn't Ed just fix the problem once and for all? Maybe it can't be fixed...battle damage, it must have taken a direct hit..."

She had reached the top of the stairs now, and she kept tight against the wall as she made her way down the upper hallway in the dark. As she went down the hall, the sound of the ship's engines seemed so much louder in the dark, and then she recalled the boiler rooms and the metal stairway that led back to the tunnel.

"I think I've found the way..." she whispered, and she turned a corner, feeling sure she was on the right route.

She reached an open hatch and heard the sound of running water, and recalled the water dropping on the metal walkways – although this water sounded much louder, but didn't everything, in the dark?

Ace scrambled through, and then she screamed as she tumbled downwards, hitting water with a splash. She went under and fought to come up for air, groping in the dark to grab on to something, anything to get out of the water. She grabbed at a ledge, her hand slipped and she fell back, feeling a dull pain and seeing a shower of sparks flashing in the darkness as her head connected with the concrete, and then she slipped back into the water, knocked out cold.

* * *

"_Power rerouted,"_ Barbara said, and as Ed stood at the console and studied the map, he saw the whole of the Tardis and its complex design working to full function.

Then he looked up from the console to a large dome that glowed golden, lighting the rest of the console room.

"And the main power core is running to full capacity?"

"_Full capacity for eight hours until next crisis,"_ Barbara replied.

He gave a sigh.

"Perhaps one day I'll find a way to run it at maximum power constantly," he said.

"_That will not be possible."_

"I disagree," he said, "I live in hope there will be a way to achieve it one day."

And then his mood brightened as he thought of Ace.

"Locate Miss McShane, please."

There was a brief pause. When Barbara spoke up again, there was urgency in the computer's voice:

"_Ace McShane is in the Ocean Zone on board the SS Atlantis. She is located on the upper level in room 24 and she is in the water, and unresponsive to my voice."_

"Keep calling to her!" he said urgently, and then he ran out of the console room and took a sharp turn up a corridor that led to a short cut through the maze, as he desperately hoped he would be able to reach her in time...

* * *

On the planet of Iilea, the Seventh Doctor was taking a stroll across the wide, picturesque hotel gardens with Selena Eliot.

As they came to a small waterfall built into a rockery, the Doctor sat down on a bench and Selena sat beside him and thought of all they had discussed since meeting in the bar.

"So you're really the Doctor? I've heard of you, I mean, word gets about but I never thought when you said you was a doctor that you meant THE Doctor. A Time Lord... that's impressive."

"I don't know if being a Time Lord makes me impressive," he replied as he watched the water trickle away into a shallow stream, "But I can regenerate - have you heard about that too?"

"I've heard the Doctor has had many lives and many faces," she replied, "Does that mean you're immortal?"

He gave a sigh.

"No," he told her as he leaned on the question mark handle of his umbrella and watched sunlight dance on the fast moving stream, "I run out of lives eventually. And when I said my companion left me for another version of myself, I literally meant another version of me Actually a version of me from the distant future – well, distant from where I am in my own time line... she wanted to meet my final regeneration. I wasn't sure if it was wise, but she wore me down and I took her to see him. I left her there for a few days, but now I'm starting to regret it. I have this feeling about the whole thing, like I should have said more before she left, I should have been honest with her -"

"So she hasn't said she wants to leave you, this is you guessing?"

He was still watching the stream as the look in his eyes shaded with sadness.

"It's much more than that, I feel as if time is coming full circle. And it's not something I can resist, because it's not up to me."

"Maybe you shouldn't try, it sounds like some kind of big cosmic event in her life, something only she can deal with."

"You believe some things are meant to be?"

"Like I said, some things seem to be fixed points that can't be disputed. She's met him, he's you in another life – if she falls in love with him, what does that say to you? To me, it says she's loved you all the long, she's just chosen to show it to him, this other version of you. Therefore I would conclude she loves you, but she chose to show that love to you in a later lifetime."

"My last one," he replied.

His remark surprised her.

"Maybe it's a love that's worth waiting _all_ your lifetimes for," she told him, "Most of us only have one lifetime and it isn't long enough to find true love. But if you have to wait until the end, I'd say fate has saved the best till last, at least that's the way it would seem to me."

The Doctor turned his head and smiled as he looked at her.

"You're very insightful, Selena."

"No, I'm just a good listener," she replied.

The twin suns were starting to sink lower in the sky as it streaked beautiful shades of amber and purple and orange as if a painter had spattered a canvas. It seemed to reflect on the world beneath the painted sky as the hues glowed all around, making the stream tinged with gold and the grass seem a shade of purple over green.

"Where are you having dinner tonight, Selena?" he asked her.

"I hadn't made any plans."

The doctor smiled.

"Would you like to have dinner with me?"

She smiled back at him.

"I'd love to," she replied.

* * *

"_ACE!"_

The world seemed a blur as Ed ran through the maze, finally reaching the corridor that led to the SS Atlantis, otherwise known as the Ocean Zone.

He dashed to the upper level, calling her name again, and as he heard no reply the Time Lord's twin hearts raced in panic.

He reached the hatch and leaned over, saw Ace floating on her back in the water as a cut glistened from a small swelling just above her left temple.

"_ACE!"_ he yelled again, and scrambled through the hatch, pausing to hit a button on the wall to drain the water from the pit. As the water began to drain Ace turned on her side and then went under.

Ed grabbed a metal ladder and tugged on it, sending it crashing to the floor of the pit as he wasted no time, hurrying down the ladder and jumping into the water and then turning her over sharply.

"_ACE!_" he yelled again, shaking her roughly.

Her lips parted and she tried to breathe, then she coughed and choked and coughed again and he fell to his knees in the now shallow water and held her in his arms, sitting her up and slapping her back sharply.

"_Please breathe!"_ he said to her,_ "Please Ace, I can't lose you now, not after all this time, I waited so long for you..."_

And she coughed and spluttered and spat out water, then drew in a difficult breath as her eyes opened and took on a look of panic.

"It's okay," he said as he held her, "You almost drowned, but I got here in time...Oh you silly girl, _how _did you end up down here in the dark?"

Ace was still fighting for air as she coughed hard and then managed to drag in a proper lungful of air.

She coughed again and looked into his eyes.

"The lights went out...I thought could find my way back..." she coughed again, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone so far on my own..."

And then as he recalled his Seventh lifetime so long ago in the distant past, he smiled fondly.

"You've always been a handful!" he said to her, and then he playfully touched the tip of her nose, just like he had in the days when she had known him as the Professor.

"You remember that?"

"I remember everything about you," he promised her, "How could I ever forget? A hundred regenerations couldn't wipe out my memories of you, nothing could!"

He got up and helped her up too, but Ace still felt shaken and her legs turned to jelly and as she slid down he caught her, and then he kept this arm around her waist as helped her over to the ladder.

"You go first, I'll be right behind you so you don't fall," he told her, "And when we get out of here I'm putting you to bed, you need to rest."

Ace was still trembling she tried to climb the ladder, she stopped midway as her legs trembled again and he stepped up behind her and then she felt safe, knowing there was no chance she would fall.

When she reached the top of the ladder he helped her back on to the ledge and then through the hatch and back into the sunken ship.

As he joined her on the other side, he closed the hatch and locked it.

And Ace stood there looking at him apologetically.

"I'm sorry I was so stupid!"

But she saw no anger in his eyes.

"I'm not angry with you, Ace!" he said, "I'm just glad you're okay - you could have drowned!"

"I'll try not to do it again,"she said to him, "Its not something I'd like to repeat...I thought was dead when I hit that water!"

He put his arm around her protectively as he led her down the stairway.

"Where are we going?"she asked him, "This isn't the way out...or is there another way out?"

"I know all the ways in and out of the maze," he promised her, "And we are not leaving yet. You've had a nasty shock."

And he took her by the hand and led her over to the sofa.

"Come and sit down, Ace. I'm not taking you out of here until you've stopped shaking."

And he sat down and she sat beside him, and he put his arm around her and held her close, and then he addressed the Tardis.

"Barbara, can you turn the heating up, please? Ace is rather cold."

"I'm sure you will have her warmed up soon enough, Edward," the computer replied, and Ace giggled.

"Thank you, that will be all, Barbara!"he replied, and then he shifted closer to Ace and looked into her eyes.

"Are you sure you're okay? You've got a small bruise on your head."

"I think I'm okay,"she replied, "And you're right, too – I don't feel like going anywhere just yet, I just want to sit here for a while."

And then she looked around the room.

"I wonder if the cat will come back..."

He looked at her in surprise.

"You saw Starbuck? I often look for him when I'm down here, I've called to him a few times but he never comes to me!"

"He came to me," Ace said, "I gave him a cuddle, too."

"Lucky Starbuck!"

Ace put her arms around him and gave him a hug.

"One for you too,"she said, and he kissed her cheek fondly.

"We'll go back soon," he told her, "Lets just stay here for a while, I want to be sure you're feeling better before we go back through the maze."

Ace rested her head on his shoulder as the bruise on her head throbbed.

"Good idea," she said, and then as the room began to warm up, Ace finally stopped shivering.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As they sat together and the room warmed up, Ace continued to rest her head on the Doctors shoulder, and as the ache in her head began to fade she thought of all she had learned in the hidden room containing the archives, and guilt weighed heavy in her heart.

"Ed..."

She had spoken quietly, and wasn't yet ready to meet his gaze as she made her confession.

"What is it?" he asked her, "Are you okay?"

"No, it's not that..." Ace raised her head from his shoulder and looked into his eyes.

"While I was exploring I found something. There's a tunnel filled with water and there was this door in the wall..."

"The place where I kept the old archives?"

She nodded.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry - I just got curious and then I really needed to know everything...and I'm so sorry but I had to know."

He was staring at her intently as he spoke again.

"_What_ do you know, Ace?"

"About the battle – how your companions died...I didn't know Barbara was a real person, I didn't know she was your wife...I'm so sorry."

He gave a weary sigh.

"That's all?"

Ace felt confused.

"I thought you might be upset."

"Why should I be upset, it was a hundred years ago! Is there something _else_ I should know about?"

Ace frowned.

"Is there anything else?"

"No," he said quickly, and then he got up and grabbed her hands and helped her up from the seat.

"Let's go back now, I want to put you to bed, you need to rest."

They walked up the stairway and along the corridor, and he kept his arm around her as they made their way out of the Ocean Zone.

"I don't feel like going to bed," Ace said to him.

"I'm coming with you!" he replied, and then she laughed.

"In that case, I definitely think you're right - I _do_ need to go to bed!"

* * *

The walk back through the maze left Ace feeling exhausted.

"I am _never _knocking myself out again!" she exclaimed as he led her up the stairway to the bedroom in the medieval castle.

"I hope you don't," Ed replied, "You scared me half to death. I thought I'd lost you."

And they paused in the open doorway as he looked into her eyes.

"I never want to lose you again," he said, and the sadness reflected in his eyes alarmed her.

"Lose me? What do you mean?"

He ran his hand over her damp hair.

"Haven't you thought about it? I already know how it feels to be separated from you... when I was in my Seventh life and you left me...I made a vow I'd see you again one day, I'd find you...and now it's happened. Time has come full circle. Do you understand now?"

Ace stared at him.

"You already know the answer to your own question...you asked me if I wanted to stay."

"Do you?" he said to her, "Is the time right to make that choice, or will it take more time, will I have to wait until..."

He fell silent.

"Ed?"

"Let's not talk about it now, perhaps it _is_ the wrong time...you know almost everything about me, Ace."

"_Almost?"_

He looked at her wanting to speak, but he hesitated, knowing some things were best left unsaid, at least for now...

"Yes," he said quietly, "It _is_ too soon."

"I need to lie down, my head aches."

"I'm not surprised after what happened. Let me help you."

Ace sat down on the bed and closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of his hands over her body as he gently undressed her. Then as she lay back in the soft bed the covers felt warm and took away the last of the chill from her bones and instant tiredness swept over her.

Ed was standing next to the bed, and Ace smiled as she watched him undressing.

"I'm glad you're here to keep me warm," she said.

"I may not be here when you wake up – I often have to work on the main power core."

He got into bed and wrapped his arms around her and Ace gave a sigh.

"Feel better now?"

She smiled as she closed her eyes again, comforted by the warmth of her lover;s skin against her own.

"Much better. Just stay with me, keep me warm."

"Of course I will. I'll never leave you, Ace," he whispered, and then he kissed her gently and Ace slipped into a deep and much needed sleep.

* * *

The Seventh Doctor had spent an interesting evening in the company of Selena Eliot.

The more he got to know her, the more certain he was about his theory – that their meeting had _not_ been accidental...

And he knew if his theory was right, it meant he was right about many other things, too – involving Ace, who he was trying not to think about, but could _not_ stop thinking about.

After dinner they walked together to the lift and the Doctor asked her if she had any plans made for the evening.

"None," she replied, "Why do you ask, do you need me to keep on talking about my work and my theories on fixed events in time?"

The lift doors opened and they both got in.

"No," he replied, "I just don't want to be alone. I need some company and I'd like yours."

"What floor are you on?" her finger hovered over the lift buttons.

"Second."

She smiled.

"Me too."

"Then I think we should agree to spend some time talking about your theories, because I have one of my own," the Doctor replied.

The doors closed and the lift began to ascend.

"I'd love to hear this theory of yours," she told him, and the Doctor wondered if she would be so keen to hear it once had told her the whole story, because even Ace didn't know that part yet, and that was entirely his fault yet again, for failing her, for breaking his promise to be open with her.

He had kept _far_ too much back and he knew it...

"I'd like you to come back to my room," he said quietly.

Selena looked at him in surprise and then the lift doors opened.

"You don't waste much time, do you!"

They left the lift together and she walked with him to the door of his hotel room.

"I'm asking you to stay because I have a story to tell you and it is long and complicated and may well take all night to explain."

And he opened the door.

"Good thing I don't mind listening," she replied, and followed him inside.

* * *

"_Power drain located in Tardis tunnel 011."_

"Thank you Barbara."

Ace raised her head from the pillow and saw her lover was already up and getting dressed.

"What's going on?" she asked, and then she sat up and found her headache had eased off.

"Barbara's just reported an emergency power drain...I have to go back to the console room. I'm sorry, Ace -"

"Let me come with you, I told you before, I might be able to help. I'm _not _useless. You remember your Seventh life, you know how many years I travelled with you. I'm not helpless, either!"

"I know that, but no one can help me with this," he replied as he buttoned up his shirt, "I may be gone for some time. Please don't wander off again. Stay here in the Medieval Zone."

"You can't keep walking off and leaving me! I've been in the console room more times than I can count in the Professor's Tardis! What's so special about yours that I'm not allowed inside it?"

Ed was ready to leave. He shot her an icy look that told her he had more than had enough of her questions, but the Professor's warning meant nothing to her now.

She got up, her body half draped in the bed sheet as a chill passed through the air.

"Ed, I _want_ answers!"

And the man who was the very last Time Lord just looked at her, saying nothing.

"I mean it," she said as her voice hardened, "You say you love me -"

"_And I do!"_

"And you want me to stay here, you want me to share your bed and your life, you want me to take on a very different way of life to anything I've known before, but you won't answer a simple question!"

He gave a sigh.

"Ace, I'm sorry but I can't explain right now -"

"_Edward, power failure is estimated in eleven minutes, with possible power flow interruption to the central core."_

"Yes Barbara, I'm on my way." he said sharply.

"But I want answers!"

"And I shall talk to you later on. I'm sorry, I don't have enough time to discuss this!"

Ace got up and made a grab for the sleeve of his shirt.

He turned back to her and she saw anger burning in his eyes.

"I have to leave!"

"Why? Can't the Tardis handle the power problem? Why do you need to be there? The Professor used to throw a few switches and the Tardis took care of the rest of it! Do you _really_ have to be there? I just don't get it."

"Your Doctor's Tardis never had the kind of problems mine does," he said, "My Tardis took a direct hit in battle and sustained a great deal of damage – so much damage that it had to redesign itself and the power core. And it's not a perfect situation but there is no other way."

As he spoke she saw a brief look of desperation in his eyes, and her tone softened.

"No other way? For what?"

"To survive," he told her, "It's all about surviving. The Tardis needs the power to be flowing without interruption. You have no idea how vital that is."

Her eyes lit up as she was hit by a sudden idea.

"Maybe the Professor can help when he comes back. I'm sure he'd love to take a look at the new layout of the Tardis and see what needs fixing."

"No!" he told her sharply, "No one else can go into the console room."

Ace looked at him doubtfully.

"I think you're lying to me," she said suspiciously, "It's the _console_ room. It's _never_ been off limits."

"It is now."

"Why?"

"Ace, I have to go -"

"No, tell me why it's off limits. Can't you at least do that?"

The look in his eyes softened.

"It would take a great deal of explaining and I don't have time – I boosted the energy core of the Tardis with crystals from a planet called Catania, the place is known through out the universe for the energy those crystals give off. I collected a vast amount of them purely to be sure the Tardis would have sufficient power in years to come. The crystals are a natural source of immense power and perfect for boosting the kind of energy that flows through the Tardis."

"But why would you need to boost the Tardis power so much?" she asked him.

"I was preparing for the future, Ace. I knew I was in my final life and I didn't know if that would affect Tardis function, so I upped the energy levels. Now I have to go... I don't have much time."

And he turned away and hurried out of the bedroom and down the stairway.

Ace sat back down on the edge of the bed and thought about all he had told her.

"_Something is not right,"_ she said quietly, _"What are you hiding from me, Ed?"_

* * *

A short while later Ace was dressed and ready to leave the castle.

She made her way out of the Medieval Zone and went through the tunnel that led to the space station, and as she walked along she was careful to go slowly, recalling the way the power failure had caused the lights to go out without warning in the Ocean Zone.

Ace walked along the brightly lit tunnel and turned a corner, reaching the fake console room with silver walls, and then she went into the next corridor, and over to a metal door that was closed.

She studied it – the door looked very much like all the others in this zone, but she was sure it was the door he had come out of when they had first met, the one he had quickly locked as his fingers danced over the numerical keypad so quickly that she had not been able to take note of the combination.

"You _will _let me in!" she said, and in that moment regretted the fact she had left her baseball bat in the Professor's Tardis.

Ace hammered loudly on the door with her hand, smacking her palm against it over and over.

"_Let me in!" _she demanded.

And her only reply was silence, apart from the sightly too loud hum of the machinery in the space station.

"Oh come on, let me in..."

She banged loudly on the metal door for a second time.

"Ed? Open the door, just let me see if I can help!"

"_Edward is busy with the power core and can not be interrupted."_

Ace look upwards, wishing there was a face she could see instead of this disembodied voice, as she thought how difficult the Tardis was determined to be, blocking her every attempt to gain access...

"You're the Tardis, so you remember me, right?"

"_I recall you from the days of the Seventh regeneration of the Doctor."_

"Then let me in! You know I want to help him."

"_Edward is a Time Lord. He can cope easily with exposure to the larger of the energy crystals. But you are human and raw power in such concentrated form could prove harmful."_

"Harmful?" Ace exclaimed, "I've seen a lot of those crystals – the smaller ones, they're all over the maze! And you said nothing in the maze is harmful."

"_The smaller crystals are safe," _Barbara replied, _"But those within the dome are far too powerful for human exposure."_

"What dome?" Ace demanded.

"_The crystal dome, it is a vital piece of new design that ensures the energy flow is constant."_

Ace spoke up again.

"Why isn't he answering the door?"

"_Edward is busy working to adjust the power flow. And he is not happy that you have interrupted his work."_

Ace felt angry on hearing that statement.

"Why couldn't he have explained all this to me before he left me alone in the castle?" she said, "I've had enough of this...I thought he was different to the Professor, but maybe he's not. There's too many secrets around here! I just want the Professor to come back. I want to leave, did you hear that? _You tell Ed I want to get out of here!_"

Then she stood there as she blinked away tears, recalling how the Professor had warned her not to ask too many questions:

_Had he known something like this would drive them apart? _

Ace wasn't sure what to believe any more – it seemed that despite all his regenerations that had taken place since his Seventh, the Doctor was still a man who kept his cards close to his chest, and even those he loved would never truly know everything...

She turned away from the door, her heart aching as she began to walk away.

And then the door slid back.

Ace turned around.

"I'm so sorry," Ed said to her, "I didn't want you to come in here because of the power core. I was trying to protect you."

And he held out his hand.

"You can come inside if you want to."

Confusion clouded her eyes.

"But Barbara just said I can't enter the console room -"

"You can enter the console room, but keep away from the dome. I'm asking you to do that for your own protection, Ace. Would you like to come in and see the console room?"

"Yes I would," she said quietly, and then he took hold of her hand and led her inside.

* * *

Ace stood in the softly lit room with dark walls and looked around in surprise – it was nothing like she had expected it to be, there was not a trace of anything inside this room that reminded her of the Professor's Tardis at all:

There was a wide, round console area across the other side of the vast room, and a short distance from where they stood, there was a small raised plinth that contained a dozen small glowing crystals. And in the middle of the room was a large globe in the shape of a giant crystal, the light it gave off illuminated the whole of the room, and she guessed it had to be filled with the larger crystals that boosted the energy supply to the Tardis, but she could see no visible door and the dome was surrounded by water.

She took a step closer and peered downwards, and caught sight of a metal bridge below the water level.

"Looks like you keep the dome secure," she remarked, "Why would you do that when you're the only person here?"

"Security," Ed replied, "Just in case the Tardis shields were compromised – who knows what could try and get in. I can't take chances, the Tardis needs the extra power now, she was crippled by the great battle and she's needed the energy boost in order to maintain function for the last hundred years."

"It looks so beautiful," Ace said as she stood there at the waters edge holding his hand, "Is there no way I could look inside?"

"Not unless you plan to swim across and find the door," he replied, "But if you did. it wouldn't be like when you found the hidden archives. The power from the crystals would kill you. That's why I kept you out, to protect you."

And then he looked into her eyes.

"Do you still want to leave?"

All her anger melted away.

"No," she said softly, "I just wanted the truth."

And for a second she thought she saw a flicker of something she couldn't define in his eyes, it was there and then it was gone as he smiled and his mood instantly brightened.

"Let's get out of here. I want to take you to a zone you haven't seen yet. We can have some fun with the games in there, what do you say to that?"

Ace smiled.

"Let's do it," she said, "It sounds like it might be fun."

* * *

The Seventh Doctor was sitting on a sofa by a window in his hotel room. Selena was sitting at the other end of the sofa, she looked tired as the twin suns began to rise in a sky slashed with orange and blue and shades of violet.

She looked at the Doctor thoughtfully as she considered all he had told her as the night had turned to early morning.

"And how does it make you feel, to know all this about your own future?"

The Doctor showed no sign of tiredness despite his lack of sleep.

"I'm a Time Lord," he replied, "I have lived many lifetimes and will live many more. It's not for me to judge the circumstance I will find myself in many thousands of years from now. I can't imagine what it must feel like to be the last regeneration, to have all the pain and loss of every lifetime carried in my memory. And I know the last Doctor suffered terrible loss in the great battle to save the Earth. His wife and his best friend died. The Tardis was damaged, he was wounded – he took a chance, he gambled and in many ways he lost and paid a heavy price."

And for a moment Selena remained silent as she turned over in her mind all the things the Doctor had told her – the facts he _should_ have spelled out to Ace...

"A hundred years?" she said in a hushed voice, "A whole century... How can anyone -"

"He had no other choice," the Doctor replied, "I can understand that. I can see why he did it. But I'm not so sure Ace will understand why I failed to tell her the whole truth before I left her there."

"_Another secret you kept from her."_

Selena's tone had not been accusing, but he felt heavy with guilt as he thought of the countless times he had kept secrets from Ace.

"All I've ever tried to do is protect her," he said, "Because I love her. And that was why I didn't tell her the whole story when I left her on board his Tardis. Maybe he won't tell her, perhaps she'll never know."

"And what if she does find out?" Selena asked.

Sadness shaded the Doctor's eyes.

"She will probably hate me forever," he said quietly, and then they sat in silence as he thought of Ace, and while he was lost in his own thoughts, Selena was also thinking deeply:

_She was thinking on the tale he had told her of the last Doctor, a valiant man who had saved the Earth - but paid a terrible price for his actions..._

* * *

Ace felt her mood brighten and the memory of their quarrel slide away as they stepped into an open lift and Ed activated a control.

The lift moved upwards, leaving the space station behind and as they arrived at the next zone, she stared in amazement to see they were now looking out on to a world filled with ancient Aztec buildings. Sand was everywhere and tall palm trees and creeping vines grew between them. Exotic birds called from trees and as he opened the lift door, she looked down at the steep drop.

"How do we get down from here?"

"We climb," he replied, and then he scaled the wall with ease. Ace followed, cautiously clinging to the rocks, then grabbing at a vine and using it to swing to the ground when the ground was safely close by.

"It's so warm here!" she exclaimed.

And as they stood in the sunshine together, Ed looked at her with love in his eyes.

"What's the best part of an argument, Ace?" he asked her.

She started to smile.

"Making up?"

He put his arms around her and pulled her close, gently kissing her.

Ace hugged him tightly.

"I'm sorry, I never meant to ask so many questions – I really pushed you, didn't I?"

"You just wanted answers," he replied, "And I will continue to give you answers. I've decided to tell you everything now."

And it was there again, a flicker of apprehension in his eyes...

But Ace had made a decision.

"No," she said softly, "You don't have to explain anything to me, Ed. You've told me all I wanted to know. It wouldn't be fair to ask you more. I've been thinking about it – you're the last ever regeneration of the Doctor. You've lived so many lives, and I bet you've had a lot of pain and heartbreak along the way. I think that's why the Professor told me not to ask you too much. I think he was right, I know it's only going to cause you pain, so I won't ask anything else, okay?"

"But maybe there's something I need to tell you."

She shook her head.

"I know enough," she promised him, "And I'm going to keep my word – I'll never ask you about the past again, or about this Tardis and the problems you get with it – I'll just enjoy being with you, because that's what matters most of all."

He hesitated.

"Well... there _was_ something I thought you ought to know -"

"Stop it!" Ace said gently, "You don't have to explain anything to me. I love you and I'm glad we found each other. That's enough for me, I don't need to know anything else about you, I've pushed you far enough!"

"But there might come a time when you need to know – oh, let's forget about it, Ace, you're probably right!"

"I know I'm right," she agreed, and then she smiled as she cast her gaze around the Aztec Zone.

"I like the look of this place. I want to play one of those games you told me about!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Selena Eliot had fallen asleep on the sofa.

The Seventh Doctor had left her to sleep, knowing humans needed far more rest than Time Lords did. Then he spared a thought for his final incarnation and guessed there was one Time Lord who needed a _great_ deal of sleep...

He gave a sigh as he thought of Ace and again wished he had told her the whole truth of the matter:

_Perhaps she already knew._

_Or maybe she was yet to find out..._

_He couldn't begin to imagine how she would take the news when the truth did come out..._

The twin suns were rising higher in the sky when Selena woke up.

The Doctor set a cup of coffee in front of her and she watched steam rise from the cup, then she inhaled the aroma as it drifted upwards and smiled.

"I'll definitely have to spend the night with you more often, Doctor..."

And he smiled too.

"It did me good to share my troubles," he replied, "And now you know everything, do you think you can help me?"

She sipped the coffee and shot him a knowing glance.

"Help you? No, I think you got that a bit wrong. You've decided to help somebody else."

The Doctor nodded.

"Yes," he replied, "I have...I've decided to do the right thing even if it costs me everything."

And the look in her eyes softened as she recalled the tale he had told her the night before.

"You sound just like another Time Lord you told me about. The one who saved the Earth in the great battle."

"Well, he is me, just another version. And taller, and good looking, and charming and -"

"And Ace loves him," she replied, "You're doing this for Ace more than him."

"And partly for me," he replied, "Because I know I will one day become him. "

She drank more coffee and looked at him thoughtfully.

"If you're right about him and Ace," she said, "You'll have a long wait to hold that woman in your arms again."

"I'd wait for her no matter how long it took," he replied, "I'd wait thousands of years if I had to."

"And it sounds like you will," Selena said quietly, and then she got up and went into the bathroom and closed the door.

The Doctor turned his gaze to her half drunk coffee and watched as the steam rose from it.

"_I know I will," _he murmured, _"This is something that can't be changed..."_

* * *

Ace was in a games room in the Aztec Zone.

Ed glanced at the water clock on the wall and looked through the window.

"Hurry up, you've got one minute left!"

And she struggled as she leaned over a table, shifting about sliding tiles trying to place sun and moon symbols in the correct places.

"I'm trying!" she exclaimed, "This looked easy...it's not!"

"I'm sure you can handle this, Ace – if you can beat up a Dalek with a baseball bat, you can easily solve this puzzle!"

"I knew you'd always remember I did that!" she said, and she laughed as she struggled to shift the tiles around.

"Oh this is mental, I can't do it!"

"Thirty seconds!" he called out.

"Don't you DARE lock me in!" she said, and she gave the tile another shove, and as it slid into place she grabbed the other one and shifted in downwards.

A small crystal slid up from a pyramid in the middle of the table, and she grabbed it and ran to the door.

As Ed opened the door she jumped out of the games room and hugged him.

"I got it!" she said excitedly.

"I knew you could do it," he told her.

Then Ace watched as the crystal glowed in her hand.

"It feels so warm..."

"It responds to living energy," he told her, "Just like the larger ones in the dome respond to the Tardis."

"It's so pretty, too – I find it hard to believe the larger crystals could be so dangerous."

"They contain a lot of power," he reminded her, and then he took the crystal from her and put it in his pocket.

"Do you want to play another game, Ace?"

"Not yet...it's so warm here!"

"So take your clothes off!"

Playfulness danced in his eyes.

"Why don't we have a different kind of fun? Fancy a roll in the sand?"_  
_

His remark had taken her by surprise.

"Right now?"

"Why not?" he said, and his eyes sparkled.

The he gave her a gentle kiss.

"Let's lie down together," he said, and she fell to her knees and then tumbled back on to warm sand.

Ace lay there as the sun shone down feeling as if the two of them were free in their own private paradise to do anything, absolutely anything...

"I love you, Ace," he said breathlessly, and then she reached for him.

They kissed and embraced and made love as the sun shone down and rolled in hot sand until he finally lost control. then as she lay in his arms as she looked into his eyes, everything seemed to make perfect sense. All she saw as the man she loved and thoughts of forever filled her mind; she wanted to spend forever with him, she knew it now, her mind was made up...

* * *

The Seventh Doctor was ready to leave the Earth colony planet.

He waited patiently by the open door of his Tardis as Selena wheeled her suitcase along the path and away from the hotel.

When she joined him she looked back at the twin suns set in a sky that carried many shades of blue, and she gave a sigh.

"I'll miss it here. This was supposed to be a holiday for me!"

"And I shall bring you back here as soon as our task is done," he promised her.

"Are you sure there's room in here for both of us?" she asked him.

He chuckled.

"I told you, its bigger on the inside."

"So you did..."

Selena walked into the Tardis.

The Doctor waited outside with a bemused look in his eyes as he waited for her response.

A few seconds went by, and then she stuck her head out of the open door again.

"And so it is," she said casually, "Shall we go, then? You need to take me back to Earth before we go anywhere else, I don't have my tools with me!"

And then she went back inside.

The Doctor blinked in surprise.

"That was the most underwhelmed response I've had so far!" he exclaimed, "They usually walk around it, look inside again..."

She stuck her head out the door for a second time.

"Are we leaving, or are you going to stand out there talking to yourself for the rest of the morning?"

The Doctor smiled.

"We're leaving, "he told her, and then he closed the Tardis door and moments later, with a wheeze and whoosh, the police box faded in and out of view, and then disappeared.

* * *

Ace was running through the maze as she kept a tight hold on Ed's hand as they left the Aztec Zone and made their way back towards the castle.

"Stop!" She said, slowing as she caught her breath, and as they turned a corner between worlds, Ed stopped and turned to her.

"Out of breath?"

She laughed and nodded.

And then she looked up at him and spoke from her heart:

"I've made up my mind about what I want to do. _I'm staying here with you, Ed_."

And he smiled, but then his smile suddenly faded.

"Are you absolutely certain you want to do that?"

"Of course I am – what's wrong, I thought it was what you wanted to hear me say? I thought you'd been waiting for this answer?"

"I am glad you want to stay. But you might change your mind."

Ace stared at him.

"What's wrong with you? One minute you can't wait to hear me say it, then when I do, you're not exactly thrilled about it...have you changed your mind about me, is that what's happened?"

"No! I could never stop loving you, Ace! But you don't know everything about me, and -"

"And I don't need to know," she replied, "I know you're the Doctor. I know you've had lifetimes of pain and loss and you don't want to talk about it. So I'm not going to ask you, I'm not going to listen if you try and explain. I won't put you through the pain of remembering the past!"

She stepped closer to him and looked deeply into his eyes.

"I want you to leave the past behind you – I want to think about the future, I want to be your future! That means no more questions from me about things you don't want to discuss."

He gave a weary sigh.

"It's not that simple. There are things you need to know...to understand, about why I'm here in an altered Tardis, why I'm not living my life in the same way as all the other Doctors before me."

"You've already explained."

"No, I haven't, you _don't _know everything."

His voice had darkened, but Ace had missed it.

"Listen to me, Ed – I don't need you tell me how Jayden was killed in the battle -"

"Jayden was killed when the Tardis was hit by a shot from an enemy fighter ship."

"And I don't need to know how Barbara died -"

"_In my arms, actually!"_

Pain reflected in his eyes and Ace shook her head.

"No," she said, "I don't want you to do this, to go over everything and feel all that pain all over again! I'm telling you I want to never mention the past, not ever, for your sake, for the sake of your happiness and mine!"

And he laughed softly.

As Ace looked at him like she wondered if he was going mad, he looked at her fondly.

"You have no clue what I need to explain. And if I don't explain it, when you find out about it, I'm not sure how you will react. But every time I try and do it, you tell me to shut up! What am I supposed to do, leave the subject alone and hope you never stumble across the truth?"

"No," she said again, "I'm not listening. I don't want to quarrel with you again, but I refuse to make you feel like you have to drag up the past, there's no way I'm going to put you through that!"

"_Did I say this was connected to the past?"_

Confusion clouded her eyes.

"Well it can't be connected to anything else – oh no...wait..._the Tardis!_ Your energy core problem... which is _only _allowed to be handled by you, I get that part. I don't quite get why you wouldn't let the Professor help you with it, because he _is_ another Doctor...but that's up to you, it's your Tardis."

Ed gave another sigh.

"You really are quite impossible sometimes, Ace McShane! If can just get a word in and explain -"

"No!" Ace said again, "Leave it alone, what ever it is, I don't want to know, okay? I just want to be with you and for us to be happy, no more talk of the great battle or what happened to the people you lost, or about the damage to the Tardis."

"But what if I need to tell you about something that affects us?"

Ace could only think of one conclusion.

"Am I the only woman in your life, or is there another girlfriend out there somewhere?"

"You are definitely the only woman in my life, I've been _alone _for a hundred years!"

She looked at him and her eyes filled with confusion again.

"I can't think of anything else...there _isn't_ anything else!"

As he took hold of her arms and held her firmly she caught her breath.

"What are you doing?"

"_I need you to listen to me, Ace!"_

Intensity burned in his eyes like blue fire.

"You _must_ hear me out," he said, and then he let go of her again.

Ace slowly nodded.

"Then tell me," she said in a hushed voice.

"You get me for eight hours a day. The rest of the time I'm in the console room."

She blinked.

"Is that it? I do know the power problem takes up a lot of your time."

"_I AM the power problem!"_

She stared at him.

"What?"

That look was back in his eyes, that haunted, sad look that had come and gone so briefly, and now as it remained, she drew in a slow breath, knowing what ever he was about to tell her would not be easy for him to explain, nor for her to accept...

"I told you how I was wounded in the great battle," he said, "Well I sent an SOS – but help never arrived. The Tardis was too damaged to send out the signal properly. I knew I was dying from the laser bolt wound, but I had one chance left... I'd built the dome and redistributed the power throughout the Tardis for two reasons, Ace. One was to ensure the Tardis could continue to function on a powerful secondary energy source – and the second reason, I knew I had no hope of regenerating. So long before the battle, I'd already made my plans for the inevitable."

Her eyes widened as she continued to stare at him.

"But you're okay now."

"_Not exactly..."_

"I don't get it," she whispered, "What's going on?"

Ed placed his hands gently on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.

"This is what I need to explain, Ace – I have to explain now, so you understand: _I was fatally wounded in the great battle. I was dying when I went into the dome and the Tardis joined me to the energy core. My body has been in suspended animation for a century. But the power generated by the dome enables my mind to wander free in a three dimensional holographic body. I can even maintain solid form. But only for eight hours a day. And when the power flow fails, as it often does, I'm partly thrown back into my body and sometimes for a split second, I wake and I'm trapped in the energy core..._"

Ace blinked away tears as she looked at him, a chill running through her body as she thought of the truth he had been keeping from her...

"You're not real?"

"Yes I _am_ real! My mind is in a body identical to my own, but it's composed of pure energy generated by the Tardis, to enable me to have some kind of a life worth living! The Tardis created the maze and the games and the worlds inside it to keep my mind busy, to stop me from going insane. Sometimes when the power fails I start to wake and I feel the pain of the laser bolt burning through my body. That's when the Tardis sings me back to sleep. She knows how to relax me."

"_Ave Maria,"_ Ace whispered, recalling all she had learned from the archives and remembered the music she heard in her dream – a dream where she had leaned over to kiss a sleeping prince, and found his lips to be ice cold...

"I'm so sorry, Ace," he said to her, "I've tried to tell you so many times... I'm still afraid you'll decide to leave now you now the truth. But I'm hoping you won't, I really want you to stay here with me."

She was still staring at him as she shook her head, taking a step back from him.

"Your _body_ is in the energy core?"

"It's linked up to it, frozen as I was back then, permanently three hours from death. My wounds are still fresh even though it happened a hundred years ago."

Ace drew in a slow breath. The shock was hitting her slowly, the reality of the situation sinking in as she thought about all he had told her.

"So when I've held you, I've been holding a hologram?"

"A three dimensional solid hologram, yes. My mind is free, I can wander anywhere in the artificial body -"

"But only in the Tardis?" she guessed.

He nodded.

"The Tardis is vast but I can't venture beyond it, I'm limited by the boundaries of the power grid."

Ace drew in a sharp breath as tears stung her eyes.

"Ed," she said quietly, "Did you lie to me about the dome? Are the crystals really dangerous to humans?"

And he looked back at her apologetically and shook his head.

"I was afraid to let you in there. You didn't know the truth, and you would have seen me – my body – inside the heart of the power core. I couldn't let you do that until I'd explained everything."

She blinked and tears ran down her face.

"So... that means you're like a ghost? What are you, what have I fallen in love with? Are you alive inside the power core, or..." she drew in another breath as a shiver ran through her body, _"Or are you dead? Is your dead body inside that dome?"_

"No, Ace! I'm still alive, I was badly wounded when I entered the energy core, but it was something I'd built with the intention of prolonging my life many years before the great battle. I built the core to be sure I had a way to live on if my physical body was damaged. That's why I went into the dome after I was wounded, the Tardis told me I was three hours from death – so I let her sing me to sleep, and I've slept for a century – at least, my physical body has. My mind is separated and free to live inside the hologram for eight hours every day, I already told you that part. Do you understand now?"

She frowned.

"I'm not sure..."

He stepped closer and placed his hand gently on her cheek and his touch was warm, and as Ace reached up and took hold of his hand she felt as if she was holding the hand of a man who was very much alive...

But she knew she could not accept anything he had told her until she had witnessed the proof with her own eyes. It was too much to accept without that proof as she looked at the last Doctor, who now called himself Ed instead of John Smith, one who seemed more energetic and full of life than most men she had ever met...yet he was a hologram?

"_I need to see," _she said in a hushed voice, _"Take me to the dome."_

* * *

_A_s Ed took hold of her hand, Ace blinked away tears that burned at her eyes.

His hand was warm, he felt alive...

_How could he feel so alive, so warm when his body was elsewhere, connected to the power core?_

They walked back through to the space station and as they made their way down the corridor, Ace had a sudden thought.

"Can you be disconnected from the power core? I mean, if it was possible...you said your mind was separate to your body...but it can go back, right?"

He glanced at her as they continued to head for the dome.

"In theory, yes. But the laser bolt injury would continue to slowly kill me. If I'm released from the power core, the suspension in time stops, and I'm back to being three hours from death. And then here's the problem of massive neurological shock when the Tardis returns my mind to my body. It would cause a huge amount of brain damage. So obviously its not a good idea. At least I can have half a life while I'm in the power core. It's not ideal, but I have no alternative."

They reached the metal door and he quickly keyed in the numerical code. The door slid back and he kept a tight grip on her hand.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked her.

Ace nodded.

"I have to," she said quietly, "It's the only way I can really understand."

And he led her inside, and the door closed behind them.

As they stood in the console room and the dome in the middle of the room glowed softly, Ed let go of her hand and went over to the raised plinth where small crystals were set in a circular pattern.

"I'm going to raise the bridge," he told her, "You can walk across and enter the dome."

And he pressed a button and the bridge rose up from the water, and then a hidden door set in the dome swung open.

Ace walked over to the bridge and then looked back.

"Are you sure I'm safe to go in there?"

He looked up from the control panel.

"I told you Ace, I only said it was dangerous to keep you out. The crystals pose no harm to any living species, including human. Do you really want to go in there?"

She looked back at the short walk across the bridge and nodded.

"Yes, I am sure," she replied, and then she walked across the metal bridge and stepped through the doorway and entered the dome.

* * *

The room was not unbearably bright, the large crystals were set into the walls and glowed in shades of muted gold, casting golden light around the room.

_Then she turned her head and saw him._

Ace stared for a moment, then she looked back, seeing Ed's hologram standing in the console room by the bridge. She turned back and walked across the room, kneeling on the floor of the dome beside the body of the last Doctor, who was on a bed of glowing power lines that were covered by glass.

He was lying still as death, his clothing stained with soot from the smoke of a battle that had taken place a hundred years before. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be sleeping, yet she saw no sign of breathing or movement. He had a small cut above his eye and the wound still glistened unhealed. He was preserved as he was on the day he had entered the core a century before, wounded in battle and using the dome as his only hope of survival...

Ace leaned over him and kissed his cheek, then drew back sharply, because just as he was in her dream, his skin felt ice cold.

She could see no visible way the core kept him linked to it, and guessed it was done by pure energy.

As tears ran down her face she heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Ed's hologram standing beside her.

"You've seen enough," he said softly, and held out his hand.

She took it and got up, and he felt solid, living, yet as she looked back at his body in the heart of the power core, it seemed impossible.

"I'm so sorry," she said as tears ran down her face, "Oh Ed, how could you live like this?"

And then the voice of the Tardis spoke up.

"_Power is running at forty percent. Your holographic image will deteriorate in one minute,Edward."_

"I came out of the core sooner than I should have done, I wanted to see you, to be with you, to explain everything. I have to go back now..."

"No.."

Ace blinked to clear her vision as more tears stung at her eyes.

Ed was fading like a ghost, slowly turning transparent.

"I'm sorry Ace, I have to -"

His fading words were cut off as his hologram disappeared.

Ace put her hand to her mouth to stifle a sob, and then she turned back to his body, and suddenly his head turned slightly his hand twitched and he tried to draw in a breath, like a sleeper who was locked in a dream and trying to make an escape.

Ace got on her knees again and ran her hand over his hair.

"It's okay," she whispered, recalling what he had said about sometimes partially becoming aware that he was trapped inside the core, "I'm here, it's okay..."

And then as the Tardis began to play a soft and haunting rendition of Ave Maria, Ed stopped struggling and fell still once more.

Ace was still tearful as she remained on her knees beside his body.

"How long will he stay like this?" she said aloud, and the Tardis computer answered immediately:  
_"Four hours eleven minutes to complete the energy field. Then he will be able to rejoin you."_

"As a hologram?"

"_Correct, in his energy-generated secondary body."_

Ace took hold of his hand and it felt frozen.

"I'll stay with you," she whispered, "I'll stay with you for a little while and keep you company..."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

As the Seventh Doctor's Tardis shifted gracefully through space and time, Selena Eliot watched as he worked the controls and then she spoke up.

"This ship is quite interesting."

He looked up from the console.

"Quite? It's a Tardis! Doesn't _anything_ vastly impress you?"

She smiled.

"It takes a lot," she replied.

And then she fell silent for a moment, listening to the quiet hum of the Tardis and watching through the viewing port as twinkling stars passed by like little sparks of flashing light.

"I've never thought about it before, but it's like a world of its own. Eternal night."

"Yes," the Doctor agreed, "It can be very beautiful, peaceful too – but sometimes there are terrible things lurking out there, Selena. It's not all beauty and eternal night."

She turned from the sight of space beyond the Tardis and looked back at the Doctor.

"It sort of makes sense that he chose to go so far out into space to live through the power of the energy core," she said, "Sort of like a half sleep in eternity. It can't be easy for him, being tied to the grid like that. With every fluctuation in the energy flow, he's going to be partly brought back into his body and even if it happens for a split second, it must be terrible, feeling pain a century old all over again..."

"I suppose at the time he felt he was cheating death," the Doctor said, "And after thousands of years of regenerating into new lives, I can't blame him for wanting to hold on to his last life. The irony is, if he'd stayed away from that battle he could still be alive and well now, with no need to depend on the energy core."

"But he had to save the Earth," she reminded him, "Just like you or any of your other regenerations would have done. I guess old habits die hard."

"Yes," the Doctor agreed quietly, and again he thought of Ace and how he had failed to tell her the truth before leaving her alone to meet the last Doctor.

"We're almost there," he told her, "I shall wait in the Tardis while you fetch your equipment."

And he caught a flicker of hesitation in her eyes.

"I will have to talk to him about the process before anything gets decided," she reminded him, "And it has to be his choice."

The Doctor nodded.

"I know that. But maybe he doesn't realise, if that power flow had a sudden, severe break , it could kill his physical body. I've no doubt the Tardis has been struggling to maintain the flow for the past century – it takes a tremendous amount of power to create a solid holographic body even for a few hours at a time. It can't go on forever."

"Do you think he knows that?" Selena asked him.

The Doctor shook his head.

"I don't know – maybe. Perhaps he's just living for each day and trying not to think about tomorrow."

"And if Ace has found out the truth?"

"She's either going to be horrified, or she's going to cry for a man who should have died a century ago and decide to stay and take care of him," he replied, "And I really don't like the idea of Ace being the only living person on board a vastly altered Tardis, with a hologram keeping her company for a few hours a day. Technically, while his mind is separated from his body, the body inside the power core is clinically dead. I don't know what Ace will make of that. It's going to be a shock how ever she finds out the truth."

"And I think her reaction will influence his decision," Selena replied, "I mean, the kind of equipment I use in my work didn't exist a hundred years ago. He doesn't know that injuries from bolt gun wounds can now be reversed. But returning his mind from the power grid into his physical body _will _cause damage, there's no doubt about it. He doesn't have an easy choice to make and neither does Ace. If he comes out of this unable to make a recovery, she's going to be devastated."

"And even more so if he dies during the reversal process."

"It's up to him," Selena said again, "I've used the laser wound reversal equipment on patients who have been suspended for long time periods before – not as long as he's been under, but the recovery process is usually around fourteen days. With your Doctor friend, it's all going to depend on if he can come back from the shock of being disconnected from the grid."

Earth was growing closer and the Doctor put in a landing sequence.

"Assuming he wants to take the chance and do this, how do you rate his chances?" he asked quietly.

Selena answered without hesitation.

"Disconnection from the grid to bring him back to physical life, with three hours left to reverse the bolt gun injury – I'd say he's got around a thirty percent chance of survival. And if he does make it, there's the neurological shock of the Tardis returning his mind to his body – the damage that will cause can't be avoided and I can't begin to calculate the scale of it. We won't know more until he wakes – _if_ he can wake again."

"He needs to understand all of this," the Doctor said, "As well as his chances of dying in the power core if there was a sudden failure in the grid. Either way, it's a lot to think about."

"What would you do, if you was him?" she asked.

And the question made him think:

One day, many regenerations from now, he _would_ be the last Doctor...

"I don't know," he said honestly, "I guess I'll have to wait and see what my future self decides when we put the suggestion to him."

"There's no easy solution to this," Selena said quietly,. "But I must say, I do admire his courage – he went into battle for such noble reasons, and even after he lost everything he held on the only way he could. This man is a fighter. He needs to be, to survive disconnection from the power core. I'll do everything I can to save him, if he's willing to risk it."

"Thank you," the Doctor replied, "You're also saving me, because he _is_ me."

"I'm trying not to think about that too deeply," Selena replied, "But if it was you in that power core, I'd fight just as hard to save you, I want you to know that."

And their eyes met across the console, and then she looked away, back to the view of Earth as it loomed closer.

"Time to land," he said, "You need to pick up your equipment, Selena."

* * *

Ace stood in the energy core and looked down at the last Doctor, still bearing injuries from a battle fought a century before. He was cold, still and now the music had stopped, the room was humming quietly much like the way the Professor's Tardis hummed.

Ace was on her knees beside him and as she looked at him, she began to speak softly:

"I don't know if you can hear me – where does your mind go when you have to rest? Somewhere in here, near the rest of you? It's a shock, it's a massive shock and I didn't cry or pull away from you because it scared me, I was just sad for you, I felt like I'd just found out I'd lost a part of you, like only half of you can ever be really with me. But it feels real, when you and me are together. _And I'm not leaving, Ed. I'm staying here_."

Then Ace paused, gathering her thoughts.

"I'd say this changes nothing, but of _course_ it does – it changes everything now I know the truth. At least I'll never have a go at you again for locking me out. You don't have to lock me out any more, I know everything now. And things are going to be different – not for you, but from my perspective. You think you only live for eight hours a day in the hologram, but I want to spend time with you in here, too – because that's where the other half of you is."

And she closed her hand over his, and his hand was ice cold, but this time she didn't let go.

"It freaked me out at first," she admitted, "I thought you was like a ghost...but I can see it now, I saw you move when the power fluctuated. I know you're not dead, you're just sleeping in here. Like a sleeping prince. Shame I can't wake you with a kiss."

Then her heart ached as she thought some more about the situation.

"I can't _ever_ wake you, can I..."

Then she looked up to the roof of the dome.

"Barbara," she said, "Can he hear me?"

"Edward is aware of your voice while the grid charges, but is unable to respond," the Tardis computer replied.

And Ace felt her eyes sting with tears for a reason she couldn't explain.

"I love you," she whispered to him, "And all this... part of you trapped in the core...it doesn't change how I feel about you. I'm going to stay, because I want to. I'd already decided that before I found out about the rest, and I still feel the same way. And when you've absorbed enough power to be a solid hologram again, I'm going to take you in my arms..."

Her voice faltered and she wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.

"And it's all going to be okay, like nothings changed, because nothing has changed, Ed... you're still the man I fell in love with, and if this is the only way we can be together, I can accept that."

And then she let go of his cold hand and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek.

"I'll be waiting for you," she said softly, "Sleep well."

And then Ace left the dome and walked across the bridge, and as she reached the small control panel filled with crystals, she pressed a button and watched as the door closed and the bridge descended beneath the water once more.

As the door opened and she left the console room, tears still blurred her eyes as she felt a deep sense of loss, although she couldn't quite define what she felt had been lost...

* * *

Ace went back to the bedroom in the castle and sat there alone, where she shed more tears.

As she thought about the situation she guessed she was mourning for the loss of how she had expected things to be – her perception of reality had been turned upside down on finding out the truth. Then she started to wonder about the safety of the grid as she recalled the many power failures the Tardis had suffered.

"Barbara," she said, "Are you there?"

"_The energy grid is flowing well today, Edward is quite safe,"_ came the reply, and Ace blinked away more tears as she was grabbed by the crazy notion that she wanted to find the source of the program that gave the computer the ability to talk, and hug it, even if she was just hugging a bunch of wires and circuits...

"Thanks for letting me know that," she said, and then she asked the question that was heavy on her mind:

"Can Ed use the power core indefinitely?"

"_Sudden acute power failure is inevitable eventually, but the timing of the occurrence is impossible to calculate."_

"You mean if there was a sudden massive power failure, it could be harmful to him?"

"_If the failure was severe, it would most certainly prove fatal."_

"Does he know this?"

"_He is aware of the risk. It has been constant for a century."_

"Thank you Barbara," Ace said in a hushed voice, and then she fell silent as she sat on the bed she had shared with a lover who had seemed so real, so alive, so warm...

She lay back and hugged a pillow that carried the scent of his hair and thought on everything the Tardis computer had said:

The Power Core's energy flow was unstable, prone to break downs and power drains.

He couldn't stay as he was forever, the end could come at any time...

"_I've got to find a way to get you out of there," _she whispered, _"I've got to do it before it's too late..."_

But then she remembered he had told her disconnection from the core would be almost impossible – and if it did happen, would leave him badly damaged, assuming there was a way to heal the bolt gun injury in three hours or less...

_It seemed impossible._

Ace hugged the pillow tighter as it grew damp with her tears, and then she closed her eyes and tried to sleep as she waited for his return, when he would seem whole and solid,and she knew when she saw him again that just for a while, they could pretend nothing was wrong, and that was the moment she was waiting for, a chance to spend a few precious hours with the man she loved, before the power drained and he had to go back into the sleep that he could never truly wake from...

* * *

As Selena Eliot brought a large case into the Tardis and set it down by the console, the Doctor looked at her in surprise.

"Is that all you're bringing with you?"

"Science has come a long way since the invention of the laser bolt gun," she told him, "Yes, I have everything I need in this case. And I'm classified as a medical scientist who specialises in the reversal of laser injuries, so I'd say you have everything you need to sort out this problem, the tools _and_ me. Shall we go?"

The Tardis door closed and took off with its familiar whoosh and groan and the view from the port switched from a neatly kept garden at the back of Selena's house to dark space scattered with stars.

"It's quite a long journey," he said as he worked some controls on the console, "We should be there in a few hours. I could get there quicker but -"

"You're not sure how Ace will react when she see you again?"

He looked up from the console.

"I wish you wasn't so insightful at times like this!"

"Just saying it how I see it," she replied, "I'm good at that."

"I hope you're good at reversing laser bolt wounds too," he replied, "When I first heard the story of the last Doctor I was shocked to think he chose to survive by using the power core. But of course I'm not him yet. I'm sure when the time comes, it will seem like a reasonable option in the absence of any other choice."

And he turned to face her, leaning on the console as he looked at her.

"As soon as I saw the title of that book you was reading in the bar, I knew it was no coincidence. Time had led me to you for a reason, and it wasn't hard to work out when I saw it was about new theories on treating laser injuries."

She joined him at the console.

"But it will be risky. And laser bolt guns work in highly unique way – they enter the body as a wide beam that doesn't break skin, then as it travels into the target, the laser gathers speed and heavier composition – meaning you could be hit by one of those things and have bruising at the site of the wound, but as it solidifies inside, it will slowly burn its way through internal organs causing terrible damage."

"But your equipment can pull the bolt back out and reverse the damage?"

"Yes, in theory – the beam can be arrested and slowly drawn back, relieving pressure and reversing the wounding process, but it has to be done slowly. And it's like pulling the bolt inside out – when it's drawn back out of the body, when it comes close to the surface, it will exit with considerable force, leaving severe bruising and breaking or fracturing any bones that are in the way. But once the bolt is out, the machine's molecular deconstructor neutralises it altogether, vaporising the beam as it leaves the victim. Laser bolt guns are a real bastard piece of equipment, Doctor. On Earth there's an automatic thirty year prison sentence for anyone caught owning one, let alone using it! Worst laser weapons ever invented, in my opinion."

Suddenly the Doctor didn't feel like talking about the task that lie ahead any more.

"Would you like to join me in the Tardis library for some tea?" he asked her.

She smiled.

"Sounds good to me," she replied, and then she followed him out of the console room.

* * *

_"Hello Ace!"_

She opened her eyes and saw Ed leaning over her.

Then she remembered the reality of the situation and she sat up and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tighter than she had ever held him before.

"I stayed with you in the power core for a little while," she told him.

And he sat down beside her and his eyes shone with warmth as he looked at her.

"I know you did," he said, "I could hear your voice. And I'm so happy you've decided to stay. We can still be happy together, my circumstances don't have to stand in the way of that."

Ace took hold of his hands, and he felt real, and she didn't want to think about anything less than the fact that she was once again with the man she loved – it was all that really mattered now.

"I hope so," she said to him.

"Of course we can be happy!" he told her, "It changes nothing, does it?"

But then Ace frowned.

"But what about the power grid? Barbara said one day there could be a massive power failure – and it could fatal."

He gave a sigh.

"Yes, that is true – but it's worked just fine for the past century. Maybe it will last for another hundred years."

"_Or maybe not."_

As she spoke she kept a tight grip on his hands.

"Ed, you can't stay tied to the core forever. If the systems failed in a major way you would stand no chance!"

"But there's no other way. I knew that a hundred years ago when I sent the distress signal that was never heard, laser bolt wounds are very difficult to treat, most victims die within three to six hours of receiving a hit."

"That was then, maybe it's not like that now, that was a century ago. Perhaps technology had come along that can treat this kind of injury, but you just don't know about it yet because you've been stuck in here for a hundred years."

He looked at her sadly.

"Ace," he said patiently, "I've already explained this – I can't be disconnected from the power core. My mind is linked to the grid, it would have to be sent back into my physical body. It would cause terrible neurological shock and damage would be inevitable, it would probably be enough to kill me instantly."

"But there has to be a way."

"And if there was a safe way to do it, I would have come up with it and done it a long time ago, assuming the wound I received in battle can realistically be healed, which it can't!"

"I'm sorry," Ace said quietly, "I can't help it – I just keep thinking there has to be another way, there has to be a solution."

"But there isn't," he told her, "You have to accept that just as I have."

Ace nodded.

"I know that."

Ed put his arms around her and pulled her into a warm and gentle embrace.

"Stop this, Ace. Let's enjoy what have, let's not hope for miracles that don't exist."

And as she sobbed softly against his shoulder, his twin hearts ached.

"Please don't cry over me," he said to her, and as she raised her head from his shoulder and met his gaze, she blinked away tears.

"But I keep thinking how difficult it must be for you, when the power fails and you wake up for a split second trapped in that grid..."

And his eyes shone with love as he spoke softly to her.

"And now when I wake in the grid, I hear _your _voice," he reminded her, "Even when I'm sleeping and charging up energy, I can still hear you talking to me in the dome. It makes me feel so much better, like I'm never really alone any more. It makes such a difference to me!"

Ace was still tearful.

"I know that but..."

"Oh Ace," he said, "Try and see it from my point of view – I've been a lonely old Time Lord for the past hundred years. Now I have you and I'm happy for the first time in a century! And I have the maze too, the Tardis changes the games around almost every day so there's always new things to find in there! I have worlds within a world in here, and it's become a place I love to call home. Please don't cry, come on, smile, sweetheart..."

And Ace held back from weeping and managed a smile as he brushed a tear from her cheek.

"We have each other," he reminded her,"And we can be so happy together. Let's not think about what tomorrow could bring. Let's just live for the moment."

And Ace nodded, and then she hugged him again.

"You're right," she said as she looked into his eyes, "We have to do that – we have to live for the moment, because we don't know when the end could come."

"So let's not think about it," he said optimistically, "I could live for another century, or even longer like this, _much _longer!"

He sounded very sure of that fact, and Ace smiled again and this time her eyes lit up too.

"Of course you will," she agreed, "And I'll be here with you, always."

And then he hugged her again, and by the time he held her close and kissed her and the two of them lay back on the bed embracing, Ace was thinking only of being in her lover's arms as all her fears for the future melted away beneath his kisses and his gentle touch.

* * *

And far from the castle set in the Medieval Zone, across the other side of the maze a corridor in the space station echoed with the sound of a Tardis landing.

As the police box fell silent and its image solidified, the door opened and the Seventh Doctor stepped out, followed by Selena Eliot, who looked left and right and said, "Looks like it needs repairing.."

The Doctor turned to her in surprise.

"I've just taken you across time and space and all you can do is complain about the state of the décor!"

"Well, I was just saying, it looks a bit smashed up...bare wires, chunks of wall missing..."

"It's not real," the Doctor told her, "His Tardis created a maze filled with time zones that reminded him of places he had visited through out the course of his many lifetimes. There are currently four zones, and some of them contain games rooms to keep him amused. The Tardis did all this to help him keep his sanity after he was trapped in the energy core."

And suddenly Selena _did _seem impressed.

"The Tardis did all this for the Doctor?"

"She did it to keep him sane and to keep him busy – remember, he only has eight hours a day as a solid hologram. It can't be much of life."

"Well hopefully when he's heard our suggestion, he might be able to get his life back," Selena replied.

"If he's willing to take the risk," the Doctor said, "I won't be surprised if he turns down our offer."

"But we have to try," she told him.

"Yes, we must do that, it's his only real chance to ever be free," he agreed, and then he paused to address the Tardis computer:  
"Barbara, where is Ed?"

"In the castle in the medieval Zone," the computer replied, "And welcome back, Doctor."

The doctor looked upwards and smiled as he raised his hat to the disembodied voice.

"It's good to be back," he replied, and then he turned to Selena.

"We need to find him right away," he told her, and then the two of them walked up a glowing steel corridor, heading deeper into the maze.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Ace was warm in bed in her lover's arms.

As he held her she smiled and turned over, resting her head on his shoulder.

"This is so perfect – when we're together like this, I forget about everything. I even forget about the other part of you, trapped in the dome."

"I try not to think about that part of me at all," Ed told her, "This has been my world for a century. The life I had before, and all the other lifetimes, they're still with me, and in many ways I wish I could forget everything but the life I have now."

Ace raised her head and looked into his eyes.

"Why?"

"Because then I wouldn't have to remember all the death and the loss and the evil I've fought across the universe. I'd never have to feel grief again, or regret. And I'd never have to remember there was once a time when I wasn't tied to a power grid for survival, that I was free to wander all of time and space. If I could, I'd rather let go of it all, Ace. But not _you._ I'd keep you. You're the best thing to come out of all of it, I know I'm right because you're back with me, in the end, you came back."

Ace looked into his eyes and started to smile.

"It makes perfect sense when you put it like that. It's funny how so much can change in such a short space of time – when I first arrived I had no intention of leaving the Professor. I thought I'd go on travelling with him forever, but then I met you and everything changed. I changed."

And he kissed her softly, and then with more passion.

"_Ace?"_

They broke off from their kiss as she sat up sharply.

"The Professor's back already?" she exclaimed.

Ed gave a sigh as he got out of bed and reached for his clothes.

"Wait in the hall, Doctor," he called out, "We'll see you in five minutes!"

Ace jumped up and grabbed her clothes, dressing quickly.

"How can he just wander in here without clearance?"

"He's also the Doctor," Ed reminded her, "Of course the Tardis will let him in."

They both got dressed in a rush, Ed paused by the mirror on the dressing table to run his fingers through his hair, but he still looked as if he had just got out of bed.

Ace giggled.

"I think it's going to be obvious to the Professor that he's interrupted something!"

But Ed did not smile as he glanced back at her.

"I hope you're ready to tell him you've decided to stay."

"I am," Ace replied, "I know what I want to do, and I won't change my mind."

"Good," he replied, and then he took her by the hand and they went down the stairway together, into the castle hall, where the Doctor was waiting to meet them.

* * *

As Ed walked into the hall, the Doctor noticed Ace was holding his hand, and to his surprise, his hearts did not ache with a sense of loss. Instead the thought silently occurred it him that eventually, when he reached the end with no regenerations left, he would finally win the heart of Ace McShane...

"Professor," Ace said in surprise, "I wasn't expecting you to come back so soon."

And then she noticed the woman standing beside him.

"Who's this?"

"I'm Dr Selena Eliot," she said, "A friend of the Doctor's."

Ed kept hold of her hand as he led Ace over to the Doctor and Selena.

"Nice to meet you," he said to Selena, "I'm Ed, and this is Ace. And Ace, I believe there was something you wanted to say to the Doctor?"

She looked at the Seventh Doctor, smiling fondly.

"Professor, I've made a decision -"

"Yes, yes, I know you have. You've found the love of your life and you've decided to remain here."

Ace looked at him in surprise.

"How did you know that?"

"Just a feeling," he replied, "My instincts are usually right."

And then he turned to Ed.

"I take it you've told her everything?"

"Absolutely," Ed replied, "She knows everything, I've held nothing back."

And Ace was glaring at the Doctor. He could feel it before he turned his head and saw a look in her eyes that he had seen, to his regret, far to many times before...

"You knew?" she said in a shocked voice, "You knew all about the power core and how he's been trapped in there for a hundred years and you _never _told me?"

The Doctor gave a weary sigh.

"I considered telling you, but I also decided it wasn't my place to explain. It was up to Ed to tell you about it. And he had no reason to explain unless the two of you got closer – which you clearly have, and I'm relieved to know he's a lot more open with you than I have ever been. I'm glad he's been honest with you."

"Well I certainly wouldn't have lied to her," Ed told him, "I love her, Doctor! The sooner she found out the better."

And the Doctor looked to Ace.

"And you're happy to stay here, the only truly living person in this Tardis, forever floating out in space while your lover's body remains tied to the power core?"

Anger flashed in her eyes again.

"He had no choice at the time! The power core keeps him alive!"

"I know," the Doctor replied, "I know the whole story, Ace. That's why I'm here, because I may have an alternative solution."

Ed looked at him intently.

"Doctor, there is no other choice for me."

"There might be, but it will take a lot of explaining, "he replied.

And the two Time Lords looked at each other for a moment, and then Ed made a decision.

"Sit down," he said, gesturing to the wooden table set in the middle of the hall, "Let's talk about this alternative idea of yours."

As Ed sat down Ace sat beside him, and the Doctor and his new companion took a seat on the other side of the table.

"What's this about, Professor?" Ace asked cautiously, "I already know everything about the power grid and how it works – there's no way he can come out of that, he's already told me -"

"_Ace..."_

She turned her head and looked into her lover's pale blue eyes.

"I'm just trying to explain -"

"I can speak for myself, thank you. Let me deal with this."

And he looked across the table at his Seventh regeneration.

"It would be impossible for me to disconnect from the power core within the dome. The Tardis runs a tremendous amount of power through my body to enable my mind to be free within the parameters of the grid, so my three dimensional holographic self – which you see before you now, can house my mind for eight hours a day. If I was mentally rejoined with my body, the shock would most likely kill me or at least cause tremendous brain damage. And I was sealed into the core whilst suffering from a laser bolt gun injury, after being wounded in the great battle for the earth. I was three hours from death. My body is in suspended animation and I would die if I was moved from the core, so either way there is no alternative to keeping me in the dome. So if you have an alternative plan that cancels out those possibilities, I'm wiling to listen. If not, this is a complete waste of time."

The Doctor drew in a slow breath and looked to his companion.

"I'm going to let Selena explain," he said.

She looked across the table.

"I don't think we should be listening to any of this," Ace said, and she moved closer to Ed and placed her hand over his.

"It's all right, Ace," he replied, "I'm willing to listen. I'm sure the Doctor and his friend have good intentions."

"Of course we do!" the Doctor exclaimed, "I heard about a you from another Doctor, he told me the story that's become a legend, about the last Doctor, a man whose body was tied to a redesigned power core inside the Tardis. Now you're with Ace, don't you think you would be better off if there was a way to free you from the energy core?"

"But it's impossible," Ed replied.

"And if the power core suffered a sudden major failure, you would die instantly," the Doctor reminded him.

Ed gave a heavy sigh.

"And that is a risk I live with every single day because there _is_ no other choice."

"You're wrong," Selena told him, "I'm a medical scientist who specialises in the field of laser wound reversal."

Ed stared at her.

"_It can't be reversed."_

She smiled briefly, recalling how long this future version of the Doctor had been drifting in space in his Tardis.

"A hundred years ago the technology was not available," she told him, "But it is now. I have a device back in the Doctor's Tardis that is capable of drawing out the laser bolt and reversing its damage. The only downside is, it will come out with force and could cause heavy bruising and possibly fractured bones – but I can _definitely_ take out the laser bolt."

Ed was still staring at her.

"But I can't be disconnected from the power core – the Tardis would have to send my mind back into my physical body and sever the link."

"That is the biggest risk," she agreed, "You _will _suffer some degree of damage due to the neurological shock, that is certain. But I can't determine how mild, or severe it would be. Plus the chance of surviving both the disconnection from the core and the repair work to remove the bolt is low – around thirty percent. But we wanted you to be aware you _do_ have a choice. If you decided not to take the risk we would understand, because of the odds – but if you stay as you are, the power core could suffer an energy flow failure at any time, and would cause instant death."

"I'm already aware of that," he said quietly, and then he fell silent as he considered all she had said.

"We're only trying to help," the Doctor added, "I'm trying to help both of you – and myself. I'll be you one day, Ed. Far in the future, when I'm out of regenerations, I'll have to make this decision."

"It sounds too dangerous," Ace said in a hushed voice, "I'm really not sure this is something we should even consider."

Ed looked into her eyes.

"But he's got a point, I mean, if we remember the power core could fail at any time, weigh it up against that -"

"_No!"_ she said sharply, and she got up as her eyes filled with tears.

"You can't even _think _about doing this, you'll die, I'll lose you!"

"But you could lose me anyway if the power core failed! We talked about that today, Ace!"

She looked at the Professor as tears streaked her face.

"Why did you have to come back here? Why did you ever think up such a dangerous idea? We were _happy!_"

And Ed rose from his seat as Ace ran off towards the stairway.

"I'm sorry," he said, "We can't discuss this now – I need to go to Ace, she's very upset."

"We'll go back to the Tardis," the Doctor told him, "You talk it over with Ace and let us know what you decide."

"Yes I will," he replied, and then he walked out of the hall and went up the stairway, and as he climbed the stairs, he could hear Ace crying as the sound of her sobs carried from the bedroom.

* * *

Down in the hall, the candle light flickered throwing soft shadows up the castle walls as the Doctor got up from the table and cast a doubtful glance at Selena.

"I had no idea Ace would react in that way. "

"She's in love with him," Selena reminded him, "Of course she's going to be upset. He's already told her about the risk posed by the power core failing, but she was probably hoping for good news when we said there was an alternative solution – with odds that high against success, it was probably the very last thing she needed to hear."

"But perhaps he doesn't see it that way."

"I think he might be willing to take the chance if Ace can calm down and come to understand this is his only real chance to get his life back."

As they walked out of the castle and headed towards the Tardis, Selena paused as a sudden thought came to mind.

"Doctor?"

They stopped walking at the edge of the Medieval Zone and he turned and looked at her.

"What is it, Selena?"

"He's you, just in a future lifetime. You're the same person."

"You already know that."

"So give me your answer – what would _you_ do if you was him?"

"I'd probably use the power core if I had no other choice – but if I was offered another way out I'd take it despite the odds."

Selena nodded slowly.

"Then I think we already know what he's going to say," she told him, "If you was him, that's what you would decide – you _are _him, many years from now, in your final regeneration. If he still thinks like you, he's going to take the chance."

He looked into her eyes and said nothing for a moment as he realised Selena's theory was most likely correct.

"If that's that case I hope I made the right decision to suggest it to him in the first place."

"But you met me and like you said, nothing is ever random, Doctor."

"I hope you're right," he said, and they made their way back through the maze and entered the Tardis together.

* * *

"_I don't want you to do it! You'll die!"_

As he stood in the bedroom and looked at Ace, Ed struggled to find the right words to calm her down. Her face was streaked with tears and she was trembling.

"_You're the very last Doctor! You can't regenerate! If this goes wrong -"_

"Ace."

As he gently placed his hands on her shoulders, she finally stopped yelling and sobbing as she looked up at him.

"Listen to me," he said firmly, "I don't want to to stay tied to the power core because the power could fail! I've always known that. And I don't want to spend the next hundred years wondering when it's going to happen! I get eight hours a day in a borrowed copy of my own body while my real one lies frozen in the energy core. The rest of the time, I _am _like a ghost, my mind becomes a part of the Tardis, it's not exactly what I would define as living!"

She stared at him.

"But you said you was happy to stay that way -"

"Only because I didn't know there was a chance to be free of this!"

"You're going to do it...you won't listen to me, you don't care what I think -"

"Yes I do, Ace! I know you love me and I know you're scared. I'm scared too, but this will be my only chance to ever free myself from the energy core. _I have to take this chance_."

Tears ran from her eyes as she looked at him silently pleading with him to change his mind.

"I have no choice," he told her, "It's this, or wait for the power to fail in a major way – and it will fail one day. The Tardis can not constantly produce a solid three dimensional holographic body for me to inhabit every single day! Something will give and when it does, the power failure will destroy my body. But if I survive disconnection from the core and Dr Eliot can use her machine to reverse the effect of the laser bolt, I stand a chance of getting my life back. My _life,_ Ace! My final life in a long chain of many. I need to enjoy this life more than all the rest, because it's my last one. That's why I'm going to do this!"

Ace raised a shaking hand and wiped her eyes.

"And what about the shock of your mind going back into your body when the Tardis cuts the link? You said you could be brain damaged, you said you might even die -"

"I have to take that chance."

She stared at him in disbelief.

"_Haven't you had enough of the consequences of gambling?"_

The look in his eyes hardened.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I saw it on the archive – Jayden told you not to take a chance and fight in the great battle! You knew it was a gamble because you had no regenerations left, and look what happened then!"

Anger blazed in his eyes, it rose so quickly it shocked her to think the fuse could be lit so fast...

"_Don't you EVER talk about my past like that again!" _he yelled, _"Yes, I did take a chance, I did it for the good of humanity, to save your precious planet Earth! And I lost my bet, Ace. I lost my wife and my best friend and half of my own existence. So don't you ever try and judge the choices I've made! You don't know what I've been through!"_

"I'm sorry..." her voice was tearful again, "Ed, please listen to me – I didn't mean it like that, I know what you did was a very courageous thing, you risked everything to save the Earth... I'd never...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that, I _know_ what you lost that day!"

He put his arms around her and pulled her close, holding her tightly as he stroked her hair.

As he embraced her he took in a deep breath, forcing his anger to slide away.

"I'm going to stay here with you for a while," he said softly, "And I'm going to hold you in my arms and tell you how much you mean to me, just I case I never get another chance -"

Ace was crying again.

Ed continued to stroke her hair as he explained:  
"And then I'm going to meet with your Professor and Dr Eliot and I'm going to tell them I want to be disconnected from the power core. It's _not _negotiable, Ace. My mind is made up, but I do love you and I hope I'll soon be here in my own body to tell you that every single day. If it doesn't work out that way, just remember I love you and never forget it, okay?"

And he kept hold of her as he looked into her eyes.

"Do you promise me?"

Ace blinked away more tears.

"Just promise me if this doesn't work out you'll never forget me. Say it to me, it's all I need to hear!"

"_I promise I'll never forget you, Ed," _she said tearfully, and as she gave another sob he took her in his arms again and held her tightly.

"Please," Ace said tearfully as he pulled her down on to the bed, "Tell them no...don't take this chance, I've never loved anyone, not really loved them like I love you and -"

"Stop it," he said gently, silencing her with a kiss, and then she wrapped her arms around him and he kissed her again, and she clung tightly to him as he remembered he had little time left before his hologram lost solidity, and he made the most of that time, making love with Ace slowly and tenderly, and then holding her in his arms for what he knew could be the last time.

_And for all the time he held her, Ace wept silently._

As he let go of her his arms ached the instant she was out of his embrace, but he said nothing as he got dressed again.

Ace sat in bed watching as prepared to leave.

"What are you going to do now?" she finally asked him.

"I'm going to meet with the Doctor and tell him I want to be disconnected from the power core," he told her, "I won't change my mind, Ace. I just hope you can understand the reason for my decision."

"Of course I do! I just don't want to lose you!"

"Maybe you won't," he replied, "Why don't we try and look at this in positive way? There's a thirty percent chance I could be free of the power core and free of the grid forever if nothing goes wrong."

Ace took in a slow breath.

As she had laid in his arms weeping, she had let the weaker side win as she let her strength crumble under the weight of her own fears. But now she knew Ed had made his decision, she was determined not to let him down.

"I want to be with you," she said quietly, "If you're determined to do this, I want to be there. If you live, you'll wake up and I'll be right next to you. If you don't, you'll die in my arms."

And as she got out of bed he looked at her in surprise.

"Come here, Ace," he said, and as she stepped closer, he kissed her.

"Get dressed," he told her, "We'll go and see the Doctor together."

* * *

A short while later Ace walked along the corridor that led towards the dome. She was holding Ed's hand tightly, he had told her not to let go, because his holographic solidity was about to run out, and he wanted to kiss her goodbye before Dr Eliot disconnected him from the power core...

"Barbara," Ed said as they approached the door that led to the heart of the maze,"Have you informed the Doctor and his companion of my intentions?"

"_Yes, Edward. The Doctor and Selena Elliot entered the console room twenty five minutes ago."_

"Good," he replied, and suddenly sounded nervous.

They reached the metal door that led into the console room and Ed paused, trying and failing to input the correct code to open the door.

"I'm nervous," he admitted.

"Me too," Ace told him.

"_Shall I open the door, Edward?"_ said the voice of the Tardis, _"I have already opened it for the Doctor and his companion."_

"Give me a minute, please Barbara," he said.

As he turned to Ace and looked into her eyes he remembered another lifetime long ago, his Seventh life, when he had held so much back...and he knew he could _never_ repeat that again, because he knew now, when it was too late, that time could suddenly run out, even for a Time Lord...

"I love you, Ace McShane," he told her, "I loved you from the day we met and I loved you through all my lifetimes and I _never_ stopped loving you! And I'm sorry for the past and the mistakes I made, I'm sorry I never told you how I felt when I was in my Seventh life. I'm sorry for holding back. I will never hold back from you again, not in this lifetime! And I hope we get to spend more time together, but if we don't, just know that I'll always love you, I'll love you eternally, I'll never stop."

"I love you too," Ace said, "I'm here for you and I'll still be here no matter what happens. I love you so much, Ed!"

And they embraced tightly.

He clung to her for a moment, and then he let go.

"Right," he said, taking in a breath to compose himself, "I have to face this with some dignity, I can't go in there crying..."

And he looked upwards and addressed the Tardis.

"Open the door please, Barbara, I'm ready now."

And the door slid back and he went inside, and Ace followed.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

As Ace followed Ed into the console room, she saw the door to the dome was already open, and Selena was inside, on the floor with a large silver case open as she began to take out equipment.

"_Are you ready?"_

Ace turned to the area where the tiny crystals were set on a round base, and saw the Professor standing there.

"No," Ed told him, "I'm not ready, but I know I'm running out of time...I'm due to lose solidity soon, my hologram time is running out, I'm low on power... I just hope I wake up again and find myself back in my real body."

And he addressed the Tardis computer.

"How long do I have left in hologram mode, Barbara?"

_"You have three minutes and fifteen seconds, Edward,"_ Barbara replied.

"Thank you," he said, and then he turned back to Ace.

"It's not long enough... but I'll try and say all I need to say. I don't know how I'll come out of this – I'm not even sure if I'll survive. But I'm doing this because I want to be free of the power core, Ace. That's my main reason. If something goes wrong, don't blame yourself. I'm not doing this for us – I could stay as I am and be happy with you, there's more to it, you must understand that, do you understand that?"

She nodded.

"Good," he said, "Because I don't want to die and think you'll blame yourself. This is entirely my decision. I hope I come out of this okay. If I don't, you already know how much I love you."

And then Ace gave a gasp as she stared at him, watching as his image began to grow transparent.

"What's happening?"

"The same thing that happens every time I have to return to the power core. My eight hours are up."

She reached for him and he looked at her with regret in his eyes.

"You can't hold me now. I've lost solid form. I'm going to fade in a moment or two..."

Ace looked over her shoulder towards the dome where Selena was setting up equipment, then she turned back to Ed as he stood there flickering as a ghostly transparent image.

"Please hold on in there, promise me you'll try."

"I'll try my hardest to get through it, I love you Ace, remember that, I really -"

His words were cut off as his image disappeared.

Ace put her hand to her mouth and stifled a sob.

And then she felt a comforting arm around her shoulder and she was sure she had never been so thankful to have the Professor at her side.

"I'll come with you, Ace," he said to her.

"Thanks," she replied quietly, and they crossed the bridge together and entered the power core.

* * *

The Doctor stood back and watched as Ace got on her knees beside the body of the last Doctor.

"I want to help, I want to be here for him," Ace said, and Selena nodded.

"That's fine, Ace. If you can hold him for me that would be useful, put his head on your lap and try and keep him still."

Ace got behind him and carefully cradled his head in her lap. He still felt ice cold and she didn't want to think about that as she looked down at the man whose body and clothing still bore the marks of a battle fought a hundred years ago.

"Can I do anything else?" she asked.

"No, you're doing just fine as you are," Selena said kindly, and she switched on nearby machinery, took a wire from it and attached it to his temple.

Ace looked at the monitor and saw a pale line constantly travelling across the display.

"What does that mean?"

"It means he's clinically dead until the Tardis returns his mind to his physical body."

"What if he dies?" Ace said anxiously, "If that happens, can the Tardis still bring him back like before?"

"No," Selena told her, "If he physically dies he's gone, we've lost him."

And Ace was struggling to hold back from crying. The Doctor saw it and looked away it was strange enough to think he could be witnessing the death of his own future self, but to see Ace cry was too much to bear...

Then Selena unbuttoned his shirt and opened it up. As Ace saw deep bruising between his hip and his lower ribs, she blinked away more tears. Selena placed a flat rubber device with small round metal contact points on the underside carefully across the site of the wound, and started to tape it into position.

"This will draw out the laser bolt," she said, "And if it goes to plan, he should wake up feeling very bruised and will probably have a couple of broken or cracked ribs – but the internal damage will be gone."

Then she addressed the Tardis computer.

"Tardis, I need you to feed Edward's mind back into his body. _Slowly._.."

"_All neurological data is being transferred,"_ the voice replied.

"Can't you just take the bolt out now?" Ace asked her, "Then you could wake him up afterwards -"

"If I did that, before he was revived, the machine would tear a hole in his side. He has to be fully back with us before I remove the bolt."

Then the machine suddenly bleeped and Ace saw the line scratch up and down the screen in wild waves, before settling down to a steady rhythm.

"What was that?" She asked nervously.

"That was the neurological transfer completed. Those spikes that briefly showed up indicated the level of shock his mind suffered when the link to the Tardis was broken. I'm sorry Ace, it doesn't look good...I'd say it's caused significant damage."

"What?" her voice was small and frightened as she looked to Selena for more answers, but Selena addressed the Tardis again:

"Barbara, I need you to disconnect all power from Edward's body, bring him out of suspended animation."

"_All power links are being removed,"_ the Tardis replied.

Ace looked down at Ed, who was still frozen in time, and then she looked to Selena.

"What do you mean by significant damage?"

"_Goodbye, Doctor,"_ the Tardis said, and Ace wondered if the computer was answering her question or confirming the links were now severed.

Suddenly Ace clutched at him harder as his body shook and he drew in a slow breath. Blood ran from a cut to the side of his head, a wound he had received in battle a century before, and his eyes opened and he looked up at her.

"Ed?" she said softly, "It's me, it's Ace..."

And pain registered on his face as he felt the wound in his side begin to throb.

"_Ace..."_ he whispered, and then he closed his eyes again.

"Selena?"

The Doctor heard fear in her voice.

"I'll wait outside," he said quietly, leaving Ace to hold the man she loved as his life hung in the balance. As he crossed the bridge back to the console, his twin hearts felt heavy, and he wasn't sure if it was because he knew he was most likely witnessing his own future death, or because Ace was crying and he couldn't bear to watch her tears fall.

Ace had not noticed the Professor leave the room.

"Selena," she said again, "What did you mean by significant damage?"

"I can't begin to accurately determine the effect it will have long term," she told her, and then she switched on the machine that controlled the device that covered his wound.

"He's unconscious now, I would say it's most likely the returning pain from the laser bolt that caused him to pass out. He's breathing, he's warm, he's alive and right now that is the best we can hope for."

"Ed?" Ace said quietly as she kept him still as the machine began to work to draw back the laser bolt, "Can you hear me?"

But he remained silent as he continued to breathe deeply as his body started to grow warmer and perspiration gleamed on his skin.

"He's not frozen now," Ace said, "He feels alive again."

"He is," Selena replied, "And the difficult part is keeping him that way."

Ace looked down at him as she cradled his head in her lap.

"You have to get through this," she whispered, "Please, Ed – remember you're the Doctor, and this the last of your lives and you said to me, you want to hold on to this life. So hold on to it, remember how strong you are..."

There was a vague electrical pulse coming from the underside of the device that covered the laser wound.

"Is it working?" Ace asked nervously.

"Yes it is," Selena replied, "And the process will take around four hours."

Her eyes widened as Ace stared at Selena.

"But he was three hours from death when he was frozen by the Tardis!"

"And the bolt is being drawn out now, repairing damage as it progresses. As long as the device continued to pull the laser bolt out of him, that doesn't matter any more. It could take four hours or longer, the wound is being treated now."

Then Selena looked upwards, addressing the Tardis computer.

"Is the Doctor stable, Barbara?"

"_Edward's body is maintaining a stable condition," _the voice replied, _"But the Doctor is gone."_

"What?" Ace said in shaken voice, "What's that supposed to mean, he's gone?"

Selena checked her equipment.

"He's showing signs of brain activity in sleep mode," she said, "There's not much detected, but its there. At this point in the treatment it's to be expected. He's handling everything well so far."

"But the Tardis said he's gone." Ace said in a hushed voice.

Selena continued to monitor the equipment as the laser bolt was slowly drawn backwards, out of deep tissue.

"We wont know anything until this is over," she told her, "But his situation could change at any moment. Just stay with him, Ace. All we can do is hope for the best."

* * *

As the hours passed by, the Seventh Doctor waited alone outside the console room, he stood in the corridor wondering if this would be the day he witnessed his own death many regenerations from now.

He had wondered if it would be possible to give Ed one of his own regenerations, just to give him one more life, but he knew those who had gone on after him had each had their roles to play in the history of the universe - and there was a time to play with time and a time not to, and this was _definitely_ a time not to consider taking such a risk...

As the Doctor waited he thought of Ace and couldn't begin to imagine the heartache she was suffering as she watched Selena removing the laser bolt.

_Yes, he was glad he had left the room..._

But he would still be here when it was over, when Ace found out the hard way that love was not enough to make a miracle happen. He would take her in his arms and she would cry on his shoulder and he would stand there for a long time as she wept for her loss.

And even then, he would not tell her he loved her, because her heart would forever be broken...

Now it was not his own habit of holding back that prevented him from telling her of his feelings, instead it was simply that he had to, because Ace had fallen in love with Ed, the last Doctor, and it would make no difference to her if he reminded her that he would one day become him, because when she looked at him with tearful eyes as her heart ached for her loss, she would simply see the Professor, her friend, here to comfort her...

_Selena was right:_

_Some things could not be changed..._

Knowing that for sure pained both his hearts as he thought of Ace. She was too young to know the kind of grief she could never let go of, but it was a situation that could not be changed.

_Thirty percent were very low odds._

He had lived enough lifetimes to know the outcome would most probably be not the happy ending Ace desperately hoped for, and the hardest part was waiting for it to happen, so he could hold her in her arms when it was all over and try and offer comfort that he knew would mean very little, even though he wished his words could have the power to take away the grief she would inevitably suffer...

* * *

After several hours the door opened and Ace stepped out of the console room.

Her eyes were red from crying and as she walked over to him, her voice was broken up with tears.

"_Professor..."_ she said, and then she gave a sob, and he pulled her tightly into his arms and said nothing as Ace buried her face against his question mark jumper and wept.

"Oh Ace," he said gently as her weeping began to slow to quiet sobs, "We knew his chances of surviving were low. He knew that too, and he made the choice because he wanted to be free of the energy core. He was very brave to take such a risk, and he loved you so very much."

And Ace pulled back from his embrace. She was still tearful as she wiped her eyes and as she took in a shaken breath, he finally saw something else as she blinked away her tears:

_It was a spark of hope..._

"No Professor," she said as she started to smile, "He survived...he's badly bruised and he's got two cracked ribs where the machine took out the laser bolt, but he's stable. He's made it. He hasn't woken up yet, but when he does, I'll be there for him no matter what."

And the Doctor pulled her into his arms and she wept again, now he knew her tears had been shed from pure relief, and that knowledge brought tears to his own eyes as he thought of the last Doctor, and how he would still have the love of Ace McShane no matter what damage he had suffered when the Tardis cut the link to the energy core...

Then Selena walked out of the dome and stood on the bridge.

"Barbara," she said addressing the Tardis computer, "I need to move the Doctor from the energy core. He needs a comfortable room to rest in."

And a door opened across the other side of the console room, it opened wide to reveal a big, soft bed in a pale room that looked much like the Tardis rooms of old.

"Thank you," she said, and then she looked over at the Seventh Doctor.

"That impressed me!" she exclaimed, "It made a new room for him!"

And the Doctor smiled.

"The old girl hasn't quite finished with surprises yet," he said knowingly.

Then Ace let go of him and he was relieved to see she had finally stopped crying.

"Let's get him out of the energy core," she said, "He needs to be somewhere comfortable when he wakes."

And then she crossed the bridge to join Selena.

"_If he wakes,"_ the Doctor murmured under his breath, and then he went across the bridge to help them move the last Doctor from the place he had rested for a century.

* * *

"_Can you hear me?"_ Ace was speaking softly to Ed, who was now resting in a comfortable bed in the new room the Tardis had created.

But his eyes remained closed as he breathed slowly and easily, as if in a deep sleep.

Selena watched as Ace gently dipped a sponge in warm water, and then began to wipe away soot from his skin, left over from smoke of a battle that had been fought a hundred years before.

"I'm right here," she said, "I won't leave you, I promised, remember?"

"Ace..."

She put down the sponge, turning her head as she remained seated on the edge of the bed.

"What, Selena?"

"I don't know when he will wake up. Assuming he does, the damage caused by the transfer could be extensive. You need to be prepared for the worst. He may never wake up, or he could wake up and not even recall you, or who he is any more."

"Or he might be just fine," Ace said, "He told me, we have to think positive."

"Of course we do," Selena agreed, and then she walked out of the room and joined the Doctor at the Tardis console.

"What are you doing?" she asked him as he began to work the controls.

"It took me a while to understand the console – it's vastly different to mine – but I've programmed the Tardis to blend in when it lands back on Earth."

"You're taking his ship to Earth?"

"Yes," he said, "Back to Ace's time. I'm guessing it's going to take him a while to recover – assuming he does recover – and Earth seems like the safest place for them to go."

"_Coordinates are set and chameleon circuit is functional," _said Barbara.

"Good," the Doctor replied, "Thank you for that, Tardis."

"_Tardis redesign will be initiated in five minutes,"_ the voice added, _"To be completed upon landing." _

Selena looked at the Doctor.

"Why does the Tardis have to redesign again?"

He shook his head, keeping his voice low because the door to Ed's room was open and he didn't want Ace to catch any of their conversation.

"I'm guessing he's suffered badly from the effect of being disconnected from the power core," he said, "The Tardis knows he won't be quite the same man he used to be."

"I just hope Ace can come to terms with that," Selena replied, and the Doctor set a course for Earth.

"We should go and sit with Ace," he said to her, "The Tardis has some redecorating to do."

And they left the console, went into the room where Ed was sleeping as Ace watched over him, and closed the door.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Ace asked as she sat on the edge of the bed holding her lover's hand as he slept, "I thought this Tardis couldn't fly any more?"

"Not while it was using the extra power to create Ed's hologram," the Doctor told her, "But now the power can be redistributed through out the vessel, the Tardis can more or less repair itself. And it's going to redesign when we land. I have no idea what the old girl's up to, but she seems to know best, she usually does when it comes to these things."

Ed drew in a slow breath, feeling pain as his cracked ribs ached.

"Ace?" he said weakly, and tears of joy filled her eyes.

"Yes, my darling?" she said gently, "I'm right here, like I said I would be. And you're going to be fine, you came through it, Selena got the laser bolt out."

He blinked and focussed on her as confusion filled his eyes.

_"Laser bolt?_"

"You remember, the wound you received in the great battle to save the Earth a hundred years ago."

"Battle?" he said vaguely.

Ace leaned closer and ran her hand over his hair.

"It's okay, you can't remember much yet...it's still coming back to you... but you remember me, right?"

As he looked at her he started to smile.

"Of course I do. You're Ace, you won a crystal in the maze...and I love you."

She gave him a kiss and he closed his eyes again.

"Let me sleep, I'm hurting all over..." he murmured, and then he slipped back into a heavy sleep once more.

And the Doctor and Selena exchanged a glance.

"How ever he is when he's fully awake is how he will stay," Selena said, "It sounds to me like he may have had a large chunk of his memory destroyed."

"As long as he remembers me," Ace said, "I'm happy. And he's still very tired, he's not better yet."

"Expect him to be tired for a couple of weeks," Selena told her, "After that you'll see clearly how the disconnection from the core has affected him."

Ace was still holding on to his hand as he slept.

"He's going to be okay," she said hopefully, "I'm going to look after him."

"Maybe forever," the Doctor added, but Ace just turned back to Ed, who was still sleeping and smiled fondly.

"He's going to be fine, we both are," she said, and she sounded so sure of it that the Doctor's hearts ached for Ace as he wondered if she was right or wrong to be so optimistic about the future.

_And then the Tardis landed._

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Selena, and the Doctor looked at her in surprise.

"The Tardis has finally impressed you!" he said, and then he laughed.

Selena stepped out of the bedroom and stared around the altered ship:

The dome was gone, so was the water around it. The room was light and windows looked out on to a garden filled with flowers. The floor was carpeted, and had been turned into a front room, with sofas and a TV and a coffee table and...

"It's turned itself into a house!" she exclaimed.

The Doctor smiled, walking over to a window and looking out to see a river in the distance, and recognising the spot where he hand Ace had stopped off in the countryside to have a picnic...

"Yes, " he replied.

Ace had joined them now.

She looked around the room in astonishment.

"Where's the console?" she asked.

"Gone," the Doctor replied, "The Tardis has taken it away. Ed won't be using this ship for space flight any more. The Tardis had found you a place to live quietly and comfortably, here on Earth in your own time, Ace."

She was still looking around the room.

Then Ace crossed the floor, opened a door and found herself in a hallway. Stairs were leading up further down, and as she looked the other way, she saw a front door.

"It's turned itself into a _house?_"

"A house for the two of you to live in," the Doctor told her, "And I think it's made a good decision in light of everything Ed's been through."

"Maybe..." Ace said, as she looked down the hallway and saw wallpaper-covered walls and missed the winding Tardis corridors.

"Ace?"

She hurried back into the bedroom as Ed called her.

He seemed much more alert now, sitting up in bed as he looked out the window and then back at her with confusion in his eyes.

"What's happened?" he asked.

The Doctor and Selena went back into his room.

"The Tardis has changed shape and become a rather nice house in the country," the Doctor replied.

Ed looked at him blankly.

"Tardis? What's a Tardis?"

"Your ship," Selena reminded him, and he shook his head.

_"Ship?"_

"Do you recall the great battle?" the Doctor asked him.

_"What battle?"_ he said blankly.

Ace had started to work it out.

She sat on the edge of his bed and took hold of his hand.

"You once fought in a battle," she told him, "And you got badly wounded. That's why you're bruised and your side hurts. You cracked a couple of ribs too. But you saved a lot of lives, Ed. You're a hero."

He started to smile.

"Am I? Shame I can't remember it..."

And the Doctor exchanged a glance with Selena as they walked out of the room, leaving Ace to talk with Ed.

"I think I've worked out how that disconnection from the power core has effected him," he said quietly.

"But it could have been much worse," she replied, "At least he still remembers Ace, even if he can't recall being a Time Lord."

And then he glanced back at Ace through the open doorway.

"Me and Selena are leaving now. Will you be okay to look after Ed?"

And Ace smiled as her eyes shone with joy and she nodded.

The Doctor smiled too.

"We'll be back to see you in a couple of weeks," he told her.

"See you soon, Professor," Ace replied, but she remained at Ed's bedside.

* * *

The Doctor and Selena walked away down the hall, and as he opened a door to what appeared to be a dining room, he smiled on seeing the familiar sight of the blue police box in a corner of the room.

"Oh good," he said, "I've found my Tardis!"

And he went over to the police box and drew out his key and unlocked the door.

"Do you think Ace can cope on her own?" Selena wondered, "I mean, we can't be sure Ed's going to make a good recovery, maybe we shouldn't leave just yet."

The Doctor smiled as he looked at her.

"I'm sure Ace can cope," he said as he stepped inside, "And it's about time we left those two love birds alone!"

"I hope you're right," Selena replied,

"I hope so too," the Doctor agreed.

And then she followed him into the Tardis and closed the door, and moments later the police box faded from view, and disappeared.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

_I have died everyday waiting for you  
Darling, don't be afraid I have loved you  
For a thousand years  
I'll love you for a thousand more ..._

A Thousand Years, Christina Perri

* * *

_The days passed by._

Ace soon discovered Selena had been wrong about her prediction – Ed was recovering quickly, at least, recovering from the laser bolt wound...

His memory seemed to be mostly wiped out, she had tried many times to talk of his days in other lifetimes, but every time she did it he just looked at her with a bewildered expression and asked, _"What's regeneration?"_

Ace quickly became used to her new life.

Ed's memory was damaged, but the damage was limited to recalling the past, and as she recalled how he had once told her he wished he could forget everything but her, she guessed in a way he had got what he longed for – he was now free from the memories of his many lifetimes as the Doctor, he did not recall the battles, the losses, the many fights against the vast amount of evil that lurked in many guises through out the twelve galaxies. Nor did he remember the great battle for the earth, or the death of his wife and his closest friend.

_It was all gone. _

_He was no longer haunted by the past..._

To Ace, that was an outcome she could not feel sad about at all, but she did wish he could remember something, even if he just recalled that he was a Time Lord, and remembered exactly what that meant...

Within a week of the Tardis redesigning and returning to Earth, Ed was out of bed and keen to explore the house and the gardens that surrounded it. Ace took her time showing him all around the place, and as she did so, she still thought it was incredible to think the whole of the place _was _the Tardis, redesigned yet again...

But as they stood in the middle of the lawn in the back of the garden, Ed looked at her sadly.

"It's gone," he said quietly.

"What has?" Ace asked him.

"The maze. I remember the maze, every single part of it, but now it's gone."

"I know," she replied, and they walked hand in hand back towards the house.

* * *

The Tardis was drifting through space.

The Seventh Doctor was looking thoughtfully out at the blackness that stretched on to forever scattered with tiny glowing stars.

"It's such a long way back to Earth," he said thoughtfully.

"But we're going back in a few days to see how Ace and the Doctor are getting on."

"No," he replied, "It's best for me if I don't go back there. And he's not the Doctor any more. I remember, the Tardis said, _Goodbye Doctor._"

"When he was disconnected from the power core," Selena said.

The Doctor gave her a knowing look.

"The Tardis knew his memories of being the Doctor – his memories of his previous regenerations – had just been wiped out. The Tardis wasn't confirming the contact had been broken. It was saying goodbye to Ed as the Doctor."

She looked at him in surprise.

"I didn't think of it that way. But don't you want to go back to make sure he's okay? And what about Ace, surely you want to say goodbye to her?"

He smiled.

In his heart, he already knew the circle in time had been sealed:

_It had been sealed the minute he had returned to the Tardis, missed her painfully and then made a silent vow to see her again some day – and some day, many lifetimes from now, he would, when he was in his final life and he called himself Ed..._

_It would be a long time until he saw Ace McShane again, but when he did, when he met with her many years from now, he would be the last Doctor, and the rest was history already made complete..._

"I'll see her again one day," he told her, "She's worth waiting for."

And Selena looked a little confused, but had no time to ask questions as the Doctor smiled and spoke up again, his mood instantly brightening.

"So, did you want to carry on with your holiday, or go back to Earth and your new job – or would you like to put it on hold for a while and come travelling with me?"

She started to smile.

"You want to show me the universe?"

"I'm just curious to see how many times I can actually impress you!" he exclaimed, "I'm sure I can manage it."

She laughed as she nodded.

"Go for it, Doctor," she said, "I can't wait to see what you've got in mind!"

And the Doctor activated the space-time controls on the console, and the Tardis flew onwards through a galaxy filled with stars.

* * *

"I wish I could remember who I am," Ed said as he lay back on a sofa in the front room as Ace sat beside him.

"I'm sure it will come back," Ace told him, "At least you still remember me."

He put his arm around her and pulled her closer, giving her a lingering kiss.

"Your name is Ace McShane and I love you," he said, "And we met a short while ago...when the maze was...where _was_ the maze?"

"Somewhere," she replied, "Even I can't find it now."

And for a moment she just sat beside him, looking into his eyes as she felt thankful the man she loved had survived separation from the energy core – it didn't matter so much that he had forgotten all his other life times, like he had said before his hologram had vanished for the last time, what mattered was the life he had now, this last one – and he wanted to live it , and at least now that was possible.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him, and he shifted his hand to his side and cautiously felt the fading bruising beneath his clothing.

"I'm healing very fast considering I fractured my ribs," he said to her, "And the bruising has almost gone."

Ace smiled.

"That's because you're special," she told him, and she leaned closer and gave him a lingering kiss.

"I still feel tired, though," he remarked, and he closed his eyes and Ace watched as he slid into a relaxed and easy sleep, but as Ace got up from the sofa, Ed opened his eyes again.

"Did I fall asleep?"

"Only for a minute."

"Don't let me sleep in the daytime, I've been _so_ lazy lately!"

"That's because you can't remember what you've been through," she said to him.

Ed looked at her, and for a moment he seemed slightly confused.

"I can't remember what I've been through," he replied.

"I'll make some tea for us," she said to him, and then she left the room.

* * *

As Ace walked out into the kitchen, she paused to look out of the window at the wide green lawn that led to the bottom of the garden, where shady trees made the old wall behind it seem cast in shadow.

It was a warm summer day and the sun was high in the sky and as the kettle boiled Ace opened the back door, and then she made the tea and left it on the kitchen table.

And on hearing the familiar mewing of a cat, she turned towards the back door, looking in surprise to see the black cat with bright green eyes standing on the doorstep.

"_Starbuck?"_ she exclaimed, and the cat turned away and ran up the garden path.

Ace followed, hurrying up the path to see Starbuck had waited for her, standing between the trees at the back of the garden.

She half expected the cat to jump up and climb one of those old trees, but instead it ran up to the brick wall, looked back at Ace and then darted through a gap and disappeared.

"Starbuck?" she said again, and she followed the path to the end of the garden, ran her hand across the cracked brickwork, and gave a gasp as she caught sight of a hidden panel.

"No way!" she exclaimed, and she hit a button and the wall slid back.

Ace saw a small flight of steps, and she heard Starbuck mewing again, so she went down the stairway, and then she stopped and looked around, and then she realised she was in the upper hallway in the heart of the SS Atlantis, and she looked down into a carpeted area where walls reflected water, where Starbuck was now curled up comfortably on a sofa in the level below.

Ace started to smile as she looked around again.

"_The Maze is still here!"_ she said, _"The Tardis just moved it..."_

And she looked up around the high ceiling.

"Barbara?" she called out, "Are you still here?"

"_Tardis voice function now operates in the capacity of maze computer,"_ said Barbara, _"Yes, I am still here."_

Ace laughed.

"This is great! Why did you save the maze, Tardis?"

"_Because Edward still recalls the maze,"_ the voice replied.

Ace took another look around the new entrance to the maze and her eyes shone with joy.

"I'm going to fetch Ed!" she said excitedly, and she turned to leave, saw something small and glowing on the floor, snatched it up and ran back up the steps and out to the garden.

* * *

Ed was almost at the point of dozing off on the sofa again when Ace ran into the room.

She grabbed him by the hand.

"Get up, you've got to come with me, I need to show you something!"

He got up slowly, placing a hand on his sore ribs.

"What is it, Ace?"

And she opened up her closed hand and his gaze fell on the crystal that glowed in her palm.

"Where did you find it?" he asked in surprise.

"Come on," she said, "I'll show you."

* * *

Ace led him from the house and up the path to the back of the garden where the hidden door was still open.

"It's still here," she said to him.

He stared at her.

"The maze?"

Ace smiled as she nodded.

"The maze is still here, it just _moved_ and now I've found it again!"

And he let go of her hand and hurried down the steps, and Ace followed.

As they stood together in the upper hallway of the SS Atlantis, Ed 's eyes lit up with excitement as he looked around, then looked again just to be sure it wasn't a dream.

"_It's still here!"_

"I know!"

They hugged as they stood there, embracing in the place that had brought them together, a place they had both thought lost forever.

"I can't wait to explore!" Ed said to her, "I bet it's all changed around again...it does change sometimes...I think Barbara does it?"

"That's right," Ace said, blinking back tears of joy as she saw the man she loved becoming just as he used to be, just as she remembered him, and it was happening instantly as he recalled the maze, as if the place had the ability to heal him, wiping out all he had been through.

And then recognition sparked in his blue eyes and he put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her closer.

"I remember!" he told her, "I know who I am!"

"Tell me who you are," Ace said, as she waited for his answer.

He smiled and his eyes sparkled.

"_I'm the maze master!" _he exclaimed, _"That's who I am...I think it's who I've always been!"_

And Ace laughed softly as she embraced him.

"That's good enough for me," she said, and then she kissed him.

"You're right, Ed. You _are_ the maze master. You're the best maze master in the twelve galaxies!"

He turned back to the maze.

"Let's go and explore!"

"Not yet, let's wait until you're feeling stronger," she said, "I'm sure you'll be up to it in a couple of days...the maze isn't going to disappear again, it's here to stay."

"You're right," he agreed, "I'm not quite ready for this – but I will be very soon!"

"I know you will!"

Ace kept hold of his hand as they went back up the stairway, and then as they reached the garden once more she hit the button and closed the hidden doorway.

Then they turned back and began to walk down the path towards the house.

"I feel as if I'm so much more than a maze master," he said to her, "When I looked around the maze I almost felt as if I was about to travel through time and space."

And Ace smiled as she gave his hand a squeeze and she looked at him.

"_Did you know," _she said, _"That somewhere in another time, there's a man who took on two warring nations in his time machine, and he won the battle to save the Earth."_

They were almost at the end of the path. Ed stopped walking and turned to her.

"Really? What happened after that?"

Her eyes shone with love as she looked at him.

"_And then he slept for a hundred years, and somewhere in another time and place, his true love is beside him as he wakes, but he will never remember being a hero, because he forgets."_

"Interesting story," he remarked, "I'm not sure I understand it, but what else is out there, Ace?"

She laughed softly.

"I don't know, but I _do _know that right now, we need to go back in the kitchen."

"Why?" he asked her.

"Because it's been on the table for ten minutes," she said fondly, "Come on, Ed...the tea's getting cold."

And then she kissed him, and they went back inside the house together.

End

* * *

**Author Note:**

**Book TWO in this series continues with The Last Doctor: Legend of the Maze Master Book 2 : Past Lives.**


End file.
